A witness to Princess Diana’s fatal collision claims that emergency service delays significantly decreased her chances of survival and that “other forces” were likely responsible for the terrible incident.
One of the first people to see the sad collision was retired barrister Stanlee Culbreath, who, out of respect for the young Princes William and Harry, kept a respectful quiet.
The 70-year-old eventually revealed new information about the accident last year, raising the important question of whether she may have survived if French emergency services had responded more quickly.
“I always thought it was odd, that other forces played a hand,” Mr. Culbreath told the Mirror. “But now, 20 years later, I wonder more than ever whether it was a genuine accident.” Simply put, I find it suspicious.
If that is the Princess, why did it take so long to reach her and why did they take her to a different hospital after she was eventually let out of the car?
Mr. Culbreath recalled saying to a buddy at the scene, “Damn, a junkie on Main Street would get waited on quicker than this,” although not knowing Diana was a victim at the time.
“There are so many questions I keep asking myself about how the tragedy was handled and if she could have been saved,” he continued.
“I begged the cops for assistance, but they were quite casual about the whole thing.”
On August 31, 1997, Mr. Culbreath, a native of Columbus, Ohio, visited Paris as part of a trip to Europe with his pals Michael Walker and Clarence Williams.
Before the crash, they traveled to the city and visited the Eiffel Tower late at night.
Around 12.20 a.m., when they rode in a cab to return to the hotel, they encountered the Princess’ car’s burning wreckage as they entered the Pont de l’Alma tunnel.
Mr. Culbreath recalled, “Our taxi driver stopped a few steps from their limo.”
As a result of France’s Good Samaritan Code, he added, it was our responsibility to intervene. We exited the vehicle just a few feet from their Mercedes. The front passenger door of the automobile was already open, and it was leaning against a wall.
Princess Diana, 36, her lover Dodi Fayed, 42, the driver, 41-year-old Henri Paul, and bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, now 50, who was the only survivor and the only passenger to use a seatbelt, were all in the car at the time, although Mr. Culbreath was unaware of this.
We hadn’t heard the crash because it happened soon as we entered the tunnel, he recounted. Their car was smoking, and the exhaust’s muffler was on the ground.
When I approached, Trevor Rees-Jones got his legs out of the car and was holding something to his bleeding nose, possibly a towel.
Only four or five of us were around, so I went over to the car to see if we could offer assistance.
Diana was hurt in the back and Dodi was already dead, but Mr. Culbreath and his friends were unaware of this.
At one time, he said, “I was… a few inches from the Princess attempting to peek through the window, but I didn’t know who was in the back until afterwards.”
“At the time, there was no sign of an ambulance coming, so I recall asking the boys, ‘Is there an ambulance coming or something?’
Damn, a junkie on Main Street would get attended to quicker than this, I said to my pals after waiting for 15 or 20 minutes for a paramedic to arrive.
There was only one officer present that I could see, and he told us to go. Get away, get away, he kept saying.
“I couldn’t see who was in the back because the windows in the back were dark. The door appeared to be able to be pulled open, so I begged the police to let me in. He was acting normally. He was not acting in any way.
It seemed as though no action could be taken by those there. It may just be me, but I think it took a while for them to free her.
“The wait for assistance may have been up to 30 minutes. We spent at least fifteen minutes there. Why didn’t the ambulance arrive sooner?
“During the entire time I was there, I never once heard an ambulance. I didn’t hear any sirens.
“I recall that it seemed to take an inordinately long time for an emergency vehicle to arrive. I told the lads, “I wouldn’t want to have an accident in Paris where nobody shows up.”
It’s possible that the length of time it took for the paramedics to arrive considerably lowered her chances of life.
“It goes without saying that a person’s chances of surviving decrease the longer they are left.
“An ambulance was still missing when we departed. They didn’t respond with enough urgency. Questions must be raised.
Henri Paul, the driver of the Mercedes-Benz S280 traveling at 65 mph, was found to be intoxicated at the time of the 18-month French investigation into the tragedy.
At the Ritz Hotel in Paris, Paul, 41, served as the deputy head of security.
Diana was removed from the destroyed automobile, and it was discovered during the inquiry in 2007 that it took her an hour and six minutes to get to the hospital.
The princess might have survived, according to the inquest, had French medical personnel not “squandered” critical minutes treating her at the scene.
The door on Diana’s side might have been opened, according to Mr. Culbreath, who also expressed doubt about the length of time it took to bring Diana out of the rubble. “I assumed the car was in a state where you could open the door,” he added.
“I didn’t think the automobile was so badly damaged that the back door couldn’t be opened, plus the front door was already open.
Why then were you unable to enter the door?
“The car was as huge as a pancake when it eventually emerged from the tunnel on a lorry, but when I saw it, one side wasn’t. The Princess was on that side. I discovered afterwards that “jaws of life” were employed. Why didn’t they simply unlock the door?
She was speaking, so she wasn’t dead.
Mr. Culbreath, who gave a statement but was not called before the inquest, claimed he withheld an interview until today in order to protect Diana’s children.
“My kids were the same age as Prince William and Prince Harry at the time,” he remarked.
“I never spoke to anyone because I wanted to keep them all safe,” she said.
Mr. Culbreath continued, “I thought Diana was a great person,” as he pondered back on the Princess of Wales. She always stood by her friends and gave her all for the greater good.
She was always there for the average person when they needed her, but when her time came, it seemed like there was a woefully inadequate response.