PHOTOS OF DIANA'S LAST NIGHT INDICATE DRIVER WAS `DAZZLED'.

Byline: Jocelyn Noveck Associated Press

Photos taken minutes before Princess Diana's Mercedes-Benz crashed show her driver ``dazzled'' by a camera flash, a lawyer said Tuesday. Judicial sources said a new blood test confirmed the driver was legally drunk.

Traces of anti-depressants also were found in the driver's blood, Europe-1 radio said. The report could not be confirmed, although investigators said they had not ruled out looking for substances other than alcohol.

What responsibility driver Henri Paul may have had in the Aug. 31 crash that killed him, Diana and her beau, Dodi Fayed, is a key question in the investigation.

Paul was a security officer at the Ritz Hotel, owned by Fayed's father, Mohamed al-Fayed. The al-Fayed family has defended the driver, blaming the crash on paparazzi chasing the car.

Bernard Darteville, a lawyer for the al-Fayed family in Paris, said two frames from a photographer's roll of film seized at the crash site show Paul startled by a camera flash, Diana's bodyguard pulling down the sun visor and Diana looking out the back at a motorcycle headlight.

The film is being held by police and was not made public. Darteville said he has had access to it but could not release prints or the name of the photographer. However, its existence was also confirmed by a defense lawyer in the case, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an interview in his Paris office, the lawyer described photos he said were ``clearly'' taken from in front of the Mercedes. That would buttress some witness accounts that a car or motorcycle was directly in front of Diana's car before it crashed, blocking its path.

However, it was not clear precisely where on the 1.8-mile drive the shot of the startled driver was taken. Earlier photos on the roll showed the princess and Fayed getting into the Mercedes, and a later picture showed the crash scene, he said.

``The photo taken immediately before the first photo of the accident shows the Mercedes taken from very close,'' Darteville said. ``One sees very distinctly the driver dazzled by a flash. One sees very distinctly the bodyguard, at his side, who with a brisk gesture lowers the visor to protect himself from the flash, and one sees very distinctly Princess Diana, turning to look behind the vehicle, and one sees very distinctly the yellow headlight of a motorcycle.''

Several witnesses have reported seeing a motorcycle with a yellow headlight following the Mercedes, he said.

The only survivor of the crash, bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones, is in a Paris hospital recovering from surgery and so far has been unable to speak with investigators.

The French daily Le Figaro quoted French investigators Tuesday as saying the accident most probably was caused ``by alcohol and excessive speed.''

A third blood test confirmed two earlier tests showing the level of alcohol in Paul's bloodstream was well above France's legal limit.

A highly placed judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the test showed the alcohol level at 1.75 grams per liter of blood. A police source described it only as just under 1.8 grams. Two earlier tests showed a level of 1.75 and 1.82, respectively.

An anti-alcoholism group says a level of 1.75 is the equivalent of drinking nine shots of whiskey quickly.

If the report that Paul had anti-depressants in his bloodstream is confirmed, investigators could argue that the drugs intensified the effects of the alcohol.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1 -- color) Stephanie Baker-Young, 3, holds a bouquet and a postcard of Princess Diana.

(2) Investigators leave the Alma bridge tunnel Tuesday after trying to reconstruct Diana's fatal accident.

Associated Press