Thursday September 4 11:35 PM EDT 

Paris Police Hold Photographers in Diana Probe

By Alister Doyle 

PARIS (Reuter) - Police were holding three photographers on Friday
in a possible prelude to adding them to a manslaughter probe into
whether paparazzis were to blame for Princess Diana's fatal car
accident in Paris. 

Police have also widened their investigation to question employees of
the Ritz Hotel, where Diana ate her last dinner and which gave her a
driver who was far over the drink drive limit when her car crashed on
Sunday. 

Suspicions that hounding by paparazzi on motorcycles was a factor
were bolstered by a man who said he saw a motorcycle swerve in front
of Diana's black Mercedes car just before it slammed into a concrete
post on Sunday. 

The three freelance photographers, aware they were sought in a
manslaughter investigation because they had been at the scene of the
crash, turned themselves in to police of their own free will on
Thursday, justice sources said. 

They were being held overnight for questioning and might be added to
a probe already targeting six other photographers and a picture agency
motorcyclist. The seven were placed under official investigation on
Tuesday for manslaughter, causing bodily harm and failure to help
people in danger. 

If ever tried, they could risk up to five years in jail for the deaths of
Diana, her companion Dodi Al Fayed and their driver. Investigators
are likely to spend months, perhaps years, dissecting how far speed,
alcohol or paparazzis were to blame. 

A judicial source said police had begun questioning employees at the
Ritz Hotel, owned by Al Fayed's multi-millionaire father Mohamed
who also owns London's Harrods department store. 

"The visits to the Ritz were routine, as is always the case in this type
of investigation," the source said. 

The Ritz had no immediate comment. Police said that they had not
ruled out a possibility that the Ritz or its employees might be made a
formal target of the investigation. 

Photographers have said they were far behind the Mercedes at the
time of the accident. Al Fayed's lawyers argue the car would not have
been speeding if the posse of paparazzi had not been in pursuit. 

Backing up Al Fayed's case, a man who said he was driving just ahead
of Diana's car told Reuters that a swerving motorcycle may have put
off the driver. 

"In my rear-view mirror, I saw the car in the middle of the tunnel
with the motorcycle on its left, pulling ahead and then swerving to the
right directly in front of the car," Francois Levi said from his home in
the Normandy port of Rouen. 

"As the motorcycle swerved and before the car lost control, there was
a flash of light but then I was out of the tunnel and heard, but did not
see the impact," he said late on Thursday. 

There were two people on the motorcycle, Levi said. He said he did
not know if the flash was from a camera. 

Photographers placed under investigation, including some who
arrived minutes after the accident, have denied any wrongdoing. Some
witnesses have said they shoved aside rescue workers or police to get
pictures. 

Investigators have also been poring over telephone records to see
whether the paparazzi on the scene tried to help the victims by calling
the police or giving first aid. A French law obliges onlookers to help
people in danger.