DIANA'S DRIVER DRUNK; STAND-IN CHAUFFEUR'S SPEED ALSO IN QUESTION.

Byline: Elizabeth Neuffer The Boston Globe

The chauffeur driving Princess Diana was legally drunk when his car crashed in a tunnel near the Seine river early Sunday, officials said Monday.

The Paris prosecutor's office made the report in a press release about the chauffeur's condition. The office did not provide any details, but local news agencies quoted sources as saying the blood-alcohol content of the driver, identified as Henri Paul, was three times the legal limit.

Paul, who also was killed, was trained by Mercedes-Benz as a chauffeur for celebrities. He worked as the No. 2 security officer for the Ritz Hotel, where Diana and her companion, Dodi Fayed, dined the evening they were killed.

A Fayed family spokesman said Monday that Paul, 41, had been called in from home to drive the couple in a hotel sedan, so that Fayed's regular chauffeur could act as a decoy for waiting journalists by taking the millionaire's own car elsewhere.

The media here have consistently reported that Paul was driving at least 60 miles per hour, and perhaps as fast as 90 miles per hour, through a tunnel where the speed limit was 30, when he struck a concrete pillar. Monday, reports circulated that the speedometer of the Mercedes S-280 was stuck at 196 kilometers, or 121 miles, per hour, when the car was examined by police. Authorities would not confirm this, and cautioned that it was possible that the crash itself might have thrust the needle forward.

One known detail is that neither Diana nor Fayed, who died along with Paul, was wearing a seat belt. Police hoped to get more precise information about many aspects of their investigation from Fayed's bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, who survived the accident and remains hospitalized in serious condition.

The legal blood-alcohol limit in France is 0.5 grams per liter of blood, a more stringent standard than in most of the United States. Media outlets here quoted sources in the prosecutor's office as saying Paul's level was 1.75 grams, the equivalent of drinking six to eight glasses of wine.

Lawyers for some of the seven photographers being held for questioning by police argued Monday that the condition of the chauffeur showed that their clients had not caused Sunday's crash by swarming around the car. ``This explains the crazy speed,'' said William Broudon, a lawyer for one of the paparazzi, Nicolas Arsov.

The Paris prosecutor's office nonetheless said it intends to charge at least some of the photographers. ``At the expiration of the deadline for holding for questioning, it is planned to request the opening of a judicial investigation,'' the office said in its statement.

French television suggested that the investigation probably will involve a charge of failure to assist a person in danger - France's ``Good Samaritan law'' - rather than the more serious charge of manslaughter.

``The law here is that you must render assistance,'' said John Fredenberger, an American lawyer based in Paris. ``It's much more obligatory than in the United States, where you might face a lawsuit if you intervene.''

Police also reportedly developed about 20 rolls of film seized from the photographers, some of whom took pictures after the crash, and searched the offices of three news agencies for which the journalists worked.

Whatever the authorities ultimately decide to do, it was clear Monday that the driver's condition had changed perceptions about the crash, although probably not enough to keep people from expressing anger and believing that overzealous journalists are a menace.

``Paparazzi, assassins,'' someone had scrawled on the wall of the tunnel where Diana and the two others were killed.

Lawyers and witnesses, meanwhile, began painting a more complete picture of what had occurred Sunday. And it was not at all flattering for the photographers at the scene.

French television quoted Frederic Mailliez, a doctor, as saying he arrived at the crash scene almost immediately.

After calling for an ambulance on his car phone, he said, he tried to help Diana, whom he did not recognize. Mailliez said the princess was unconscious but moving her limbs.

As he worked on her, he said, he was surrounded by 10 to 15 photographers using flashes on their cameras. They reportedly did not interfere but also did not offer to help.

Mailliez said Diana's head lay on her own shoulder in a position where ``you cannot breathe if you are unconscious.'' He said he lifted her head and placed an oxygen mask on her mouth.

The French news agency, Agence France-Presse, reported that two American tourists traveling in a taxi saw a group of photographers taking pictures as police tried to remove the bodies from their car. They also reported being ``shocked'' at seeing paparazzi snapping photos, from inches away, of a blond woman partly hanging out of a shattered rear-side window.

Bernard Dartevelle, a lawyer for Fayed's father, said a witness had seen a motorcycle riding in front of Diana's car seconds before it crashed. Other witnesses also provided accounts of photographers maneuvering around the Mercedes.

Citing the witness, Dartevelle said, ``When he entered the tunnel he saw a motorcycle zigzag in front of the Mercedes in his rear-view mirror.'' Reuters said the witness had come to the Ritz Hotel and had been referred to police.

The newspaper Le Monde said photographers jostled passers-by who had been offering to help, and told police to let them do their work. Witnesses described police chasing fleeing photographers.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Police said the speedometer of the Mercedes was stuck at 121 mph.

Associated Press

(2 -- color) Trevor Rees-Jones

Remains hospitalized