A lawyer who witnessed Princess Diana’s death has claimed the emergency services could have done more to save her life.
Stanlee Culbreath was one of the first at the scene of the crash in Paris in August 1997 and said French paramedics ‘did not act fast enough’.
Mr Culbreath, 69, said he believed ‘other forces were at hand’ because it was ‘suspicious’ it took the emergency response 20 minutes to reach the crash and ‘dubious’ whether it was an accident.
Witness Stanlee Culbreath said emergency services were ‘not fast enough’ to react to the car crash that killed Princess Diana, pictured in the vehicle (centre) with bodyguard Trevor Rees Jones (left) and driver Henri Paul (right)
The crash, pictured, took place in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel in Paris and retired lawyer Mr Culbreath said he believes Diana could have been saved
He told the Daily Mirror: ‘There are so many questions I ask myself over and over again about how the accident was handled and if she could have been saved. I pleaded for the police to help, but they were very nonchalant about the entire thing.’
Diana arrived in Paris on 30 August 1997 with Dodi Fayed after spending nine days together on his father Mohammed Al-Fayed’s yacht in Sardinia.
The pair dined at the Ritz hotel and left after midnight to travel to an apartment in Rue Arsène Houssaye, just off the Champs Elysees.
Photographers pursued them into the Pont de l’Alma tunnel and driver Henri Paul, who was under the influence of alcohol and speeding, lost control of the Mercedes 280S while trying to outrun the press pack and careered into a support pillar.
Henri Paul and Dodi Fayed were killed instantly, but Diana was still alive and was removed from the wreckage.
She suffered a cardiac arrest and died in hospital several hours later.
Mr Culbreath said a ‘junkie on Main Street would have got better treatment’. Diana, left, had been in Paris after holidaying with Dodi Fayed in St Tropez, right
Mr Culbreath, who has since retired and lives in Ohio, US, was on holiday with friends in Paris and was returning to his hotel from a night of sight-seeing when his taxi entered the Pont de l’Alma tunnel and found the wreckage of the Mercedes.
He told the Mirror: ‘After 15 or 20 minutes, there was still no paramedic on the scene and I said to my friends, “Damn, a junkie on Main Street would get waited on quicker than this”.’
Mr Culbreath said he saw Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones holding a towel to his face because he was bleeding heavily but was unaware the Princess and Dodi Fayed were in the back of the vehicle.
He said he was just ‘inches away’ from the Princess at one point as he tried to look through the window to see who was inside, and claimed he ‘pleaded’ with police to open the doors only for the officers to ‘do nothing’.
Mr Culbreath also said Diana was ‘talking’ when she was removed from the vehicle and stated her chances of surviving were ‘significantly decreased’ because of the ‘delay’ in attention from medics.
The official French investigation into the crash ruled it was caused by Mr Paul, who was drunk at the wheel and driving at 65mph. He also died in the crash.
An official investigation blamed driver Henri Paul, left, for the crash due to him being drunk and speeding. Pictured right is the only survivor of the crash, Diana’s bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones
An inquest that started in 2004 and continued until 2008 also ruled Mr Paul was at fault for the crash due to his ‘grossly negligent driving’, while also placing blame on pursuing paparazzi.
The inquest heard it took one hour and six minutes from the time Diana was removed from the vehicle until she reached hospital, and that French medics ‘squandered’ precious time treating her at the scene.
Mr Culbreath provided a statement at the inquest and said he had not spoken out before out of respect for Prince William and Prince Harry, who are the same age as his own children.
Meanwhile, the owner of the car in which Princess Diana died plans to put the wreckage on display in an American museum.
Jean-Francois Musa said it would be a ‘mark of respect’ to the royal, who died next to her boyfriend Dodi Fayed when drink driver Henri Paul crashed in a Paris tunnel.
But the plans were slammed by Diana’s former bodyguard Ken Wharfe, who said exhibiting the object was ‘distasteful’.