| Man Thought
He Was Running Over Osama Bin Laden
MONTPELLIER, France -- A French artist allegedly traumatized
by last week's Spain bombings was convicted of trying
to run over a pedestrian he mistook for Osama bin Laden and ordered
to pay the man $615.
The 35-year-old defendant, identified as Pierre, was sentenced
Tuesday by a court in this southern France city to a three-month
suspended prison term. The man he tried to run over was unharmed.
Pierre's lawyer, David Mendel, said his
client was the "victim
of a hallucination" while driving Monday through Montpellier's
historic center.
The victim, a man in his 30s, was able to run from the oncoming
car, which crashed along the side of a street.
"If it was (bin Laden), we would have won $5 million," Mendel
said, referring to a reward.
The Madrid train bombings, which killed 201 people, increasingly
appear to have been orchestrated by Islamic extremists with links
to bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.
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