Parisian emergency services have already come under fire from TIME correspondents Tom Sancton and Scott MacLeod, whose book "Death of a Princess: The Investigation" reveals how Diana might have survived, had it not taken two hours to transport her to hospital. Also accused of tardiness is French magistrate Hervé Stephan, whose investigators did not debrief Petel until more than five months after the accident. With a record like that, the investigation is starting to resemble a French Warren Report.
Diana: The Deadly Joke
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PARIS: Who would treat Diana's death as a joke? Answer: The French emergency services, according to the first witness to arrive on the scene of the princess's car crash last August. Eric Petel, who has only now been interviewed by investigators, says he rushed to a phone as soon as he came across the crushed Mercedes -- only to have the operator hang up on him. The operator "thought it was a joke and said 'we have no time for fun... this is an emergency number,'" Petel told Voici magazine Tuesday. Worse was to come when Petel took his story to the police station: He was handcuffed and held for three hours.