Nicolai Haugsted
Crime experts raise new questions over Princess Diana ambulance delay.
Scrutiny surrounding the 1997 Paris car crash that took the life of Princess Diana has re-emerged following new forensic analysis featured on the Fox television series Celebrity Crime Scene.
The investigative broadcast re-examined the sequence of events inside the Pont de l’Alma tunnel, where Diana, aged 36, died alongside romantic partner Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul while fleeing paparazzi, leaving bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones as the only survivor.
Experts featured on the broadcast noted that simple seatbelt usage might have altered the tragic outcome, but primary criticism focused heavily on the nearly two-hour delay between the initial impact and Diana’s arrival at the hospital.
Unexplained delays during emergency transport
Timeline inconsistencies drew sharp condemnation from crime scene analysts, who highlighted that the crash occurred at 12:23 am while the emergency transport did not reach the hospital until 2:06 am.
Despite the medical facility sitting less than four miles from the scene, the transport required one hour and 45 minutes to complete the journey, with Diana succumbing to her injuries shortly after arrival.
Reviewing the extended timeline, Investigative Crime Journalist Jackson Buhaj stressed that crucial elements remain completely unaccounted for by emergency services.
“The way that the French EMTs handled Diana in the back of that ambulance, why do you have the most famous person in the world in the back of your ambulance—you know she’s in cardiac arrest, you know that she’s been in a fatal car crash, and you know her blood pressure is falling. There’s a level one trauma center 3.7 miles away, and it takes you an hour and 45 minutes to get her there,” Jackson Buhaj exclaimed.
Former Secret Service agent Rich Staropoli echoed those concerns, pointing out a stark lack of speed during a critical medical emergency.
“No sense of urgency,” Rich Staropoli noted, adding that the short distance “should have been covered in a couple of minutes, particularly because the ambulance leaves there with a police escort.”
Buhaj pointed out that the vehicle pulled over and stopped just six minutes away from the hospital, with Diana dying moments after finally arriving. Although French protocol mandates stabilizing critically injured patients before moving an ambulance, Staropoli dismissed the reasoning as “all irrelevant,” stating he had a “real problem with the French protocol with stabilized and then transport” given the extreme lethality of the crash site.
Questions surround rapid embalming process
Post-mortem decisions executed by authorities immediately after the incident faced additional criticism during the broadcast. Forensic Scientist Kerry Daynes noted that Diana was embalmed less than 24 hours after her death, a procedure that legally demands specific written authorization that was never provided.
“Real problem,” Rich Staropoli stated regarding the speed with which embalming was carried out.
Daynes explained that embalming drains internal fluids, including blood and urine, permanently destroying the possibility of conducting secondary chemical tests. Whispers of a potential pregnancy had long circulated as a rumored motive behind the fatal crash, yet standard pregnancy screening was omitted from the initial autopsy after officials deemed it unnecessary.
Daynes raised concerns over whether the test was truly unnecessary or deliberately avoided, while Buhaj added that the official conducting the toxicology tests worked directly for the British Monarchy.
Failure to preserve physical crime scene
Cleanup efforts inside the Pont de l’Alma tunnel drew equal outrage from the investigative team. Municipal workers were dispatched to hose down the crash site shortly after the vehicle was removed on a flatbed trailer, with zero comprehensive photographs taken of the scene.
Daynes emphasized that professional forensic protocol mandates prioritizing life preservation followed strictly by scene protection, stating that “no preservation” occurred in this case. Staropoli added that failure to secure the perimeter enabled public access to the wreckage, suggesting directive interference from higher authorities.
“Within French government acting on instructions from the British government,” Rich Staropoli stated regarding who ordered municipal workers to wash away physical evidence at the scene.
(Express)
