The perpetrator of the fatal crash in Poblenou consumed laughing gas in front of a hotel before the incident

BarcelonaThe main police hypothesis, as explained by the Minister of the Interior herself, Núria Parlon, is that the driver who fled from the police in Sant Martí this Sunday morning and ended up crashing head-on into a car stopped at a traffic light – causing his death and that of the other driver – was drugged. The co-driver of the car stopped at the traffic light, a woman, was admitted in serious condition to the Hospital del Mar, but her life is not in danger. The investigation has been taken over by the Barcelona Urban Guard and they have not yet been able to identify the driver fleeing from the police. The car had French plates, but the young man driving it was undocumented. For the police, it is most likely that he fled because he was drugged and therefore did not want to be stopped. However, they want to identify him to know if he also had any other pending motivation.

Furthermore, investigators are reconstructing this man's presence in the city, especially the moments before the accident. According to what this newspaper has learned, the first call to emergency services came from the Hilton Diagonal Mar hotel, as this young man was in a parking lot reserved for hotel guests, precisely, consuming a product that looked like laughing gas. It is known as nitrous oxide, a gas used to make some food products like whipped cream, which can be bought online and is usually consumed with a balloon. This led the security guard to draw his attention. The young man would have then gotten out of the car and confronted him. Shortly after, upon the arrival of the Mossos d'Esquadra, the chase would have begun.

The young man, driving erratically, drove against traffic, mounting pavements and at a speed much higher than permitted. Initial calculations suggest he was going at about 80 or 100 km/h. Finally, he entered against traffic at an intersection on Pallars street where a car was stopped at a traffic light – which was red – with a man and a woman on board. They were the tragic collateral victims of this accident. The man died and the woman remains in the hospital.

Pending autopsy

Inside the fugitive's car, the police found a canister of nitrous oxide and balloons. However, the security forces do not rule out that he may have consumed other stronger substances that night. The autopsy will determine this. In the case of laughing gas, it alters the nervous system, creating two immediate sensations: euphoria and disinhibition. The effect is short-lived compared to other drugs, but this does not mean it is less dangerous, as it can cause fainting or respiratory arrest because it limits oxygen intake to the brain.

Laughing gas has become a trendy drug in recent years in the main coastal cities of Catalonia, such as Lloret de Mar, normally imported by young foreigners. It is very cheap, can be bought online and, furthermore, in some cities like Barcelona the police cannot confiscate it because it is not considered a drug. Moreover, in no part of Spain is carrying it a crime. In Raval, Barcelona, for example, there are usually laughing gas canisters commonly found on some street corners. However, it is not a new drug. A decade ago it was already circulating in Ibiza, and in the Catalan capital it began to be detected before the pandemic.