It said: “The man, a 35-year-old flight attendant from Essen was, by his
own admission, at the time of the accident just a few metres from the
accident site on the slopes and was filming, with his smartphone, his
girlfriend.
“In the background of the film, therefore slightly blurred, a skier can
be seen in the unprepared part between the two slopes sliding over the snow.
“According to the man, who contacted Der Spiegel on Friday, the
skier was Schumacher.”
The statement corroborates claims made by Schumacher’s spokeswoman Sabine Kehm.
Earlier this week she denied Schumacher had been speeding after allegations
were made that he was doing almost 40mph.
She said: “I think after having spoken with several people who had been
with Michael at this moment, Michael and the group have been skiing on
slopes that were normal slopes.
“Then there is a blue slope and a red slope, and in between there was a
part which was deep snow, and Michael went into that.
“From everything the people told me, he was not even at high speed,
because it seems that he even helped a friend who just had fallen on the
piste.
“So he started to ski again, went into this deep snow, and apparently,
this is what we guess, has hit a rock which he had not seen when he wanted
to do a curve, and he was kind of catapulted into the air and apparently,
head down, hitting another rock. Which was extreme bad and unfortunate
circumstance, and not because he was speeding too much. I have spoken with
several people, and also ski teachers, and they tell me it can even happen
at 6mph. It is just very, very unfortunate.”
Schumacher has been in a critical condition in intensive care since his
accident in the French ski resort of Meribel a week last Sunday.
His family has handed police the GoPro camera he wore on his skiing helmet at
the time of his accident.
This week it will be scrutinised by N-Tec, a research division within the
police at Albertville that specialises in new technology.
Schumacher’s family has kept a bedside vigil at Grenoble University Hospital.
His wife Corinna, 44, and the couple’s children Gina-Marie, 16, and Mick, 14,
together with his father Rolf and brother Ralf have spent long hours at his
bedside in intensive care.
Schumacher had a haematoma removed from the outside of his brain shortly after
being airlifted to hospital last Sunday.
The following day he had a two-hour operation to remove the largest haematoma
within his brain and further reduce the pressure.
Doctors said despite a scan showing “a slight improvement”, which
enabled them to operate on Monday, the situation was critical and he has “lesions
all over the brain” and “hematomas in the brain itself – left,
right and central”.