FOR a decade, former French childcare worker Sophie Rollet carried out her own, lonely investigation to make American auto equipment group Goodyear accountable for the death of her husband, Jean-Paul, in a collision linked to the company's tyres.
The 50-year-old mother of three's work finally paid off this past week, as authorities raided Goodyear sites in Europe, including its Brussels headquarters, as part of a probe into involuntary manslaughter.
In her stone house in Geney, a village in eastern France, Rollet sat every day for years in front of a computer that she used to track clues, data and articles on all road accidents linked to explosions of a specific model of Goodyear tyres.
Jean-Paul died on July 25, 2014, on highway A36 in the eastern Doubs department at the age of 53.
He was on his way home after completing a delivery when his tanker truck was hit by a semi-trailer that was rolling in reverse after its front left tyre burst.
Both drivers died instantly.
Rollet's investigation led her to link the tyre's model to other accidents in France and Europe.
"Ten years of working against the grain, almost entirely alone... I often asked myself, 'which door haven't I knocked on?'" the calm but determined woman said.
After her husband's case was initially closed, Rollet filed a complaint in 2016 for involuntary manslaughter and handed her findings to prosecutors in Besancon.
An expert was handed the case. His analysis of the tyre concluded that the blowout that caused the semi-trailer to lose control was due to a manufacturing defect, not an external factor.
"This expertise fundamentally changed the case as it validated Mrs Rollet's findings," said Besancon prosecutor Etienne Manteaux.
Manteaux likened Rollet to Erin Brockovich, the US activist whose legal battle against a major American corporation was immortalised in a movie starring Julia Roberts.
"Her determination was central to making the investigations move forward," he said, hailing her "courage and tenacity".
Prosecutors in Besancon have since added two other cases to their probe involving similar accidents that killed two people.
Media coverage and a documentary on her legal crusade prompted another whistleblower, who remains anonymous, to hand the authorities a USB key containing internal documents suggesting that Goodyear was aware of defects of certain tyre models and tried to cover them up.
Last Tuesday, authorities searched Goodyear's European office in Brussels, a site in France and the factory that produces the tyres in question in Luxembourg.
Goodyear said it was "cooperating fully" with the authorities.
"For me, it's a sort of achievement, a relief," Rollet said, feeling that she had finally passed the baton in the case.
But the firefighter said she also felt frustrated.
"Justice won't be perfect. We will never be able to identify all the victims 10 years later."
Rollet, however, said it was "time for me to put some distance between me and this case, which has been demanding".
"You can't confuse determination with obstinacy."
She is now training to become an accountant but she occasionally goes to schools and businesses to talk about road safety.
"I did my part. I just turned 50 and today I want to think a little bit about myself."
The writer is from Agence France-Presse
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times