The policeman, whose vital prognosis is not engaged, was injured in the back, according to the Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) of the North. A police source for his part indicated that he was “seriously injured in the legs”.
The 29-year-old driver of the vehicle was arrested and taken into police custody, said the DDSP, adding that he “complained of headaches” and had also been taken to hospital.
According to a police source, the young man is “unfavorably known” to the police. “Several types of narcotics” were discovered on board the vehicle in question, but they have not yet been weighed at this stage, she added.
Another police source spoke of “a kilo of narcotics” in the vehicle.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed on Twitter that drugs were found in the car.
“Every day our law enforcement officers face attempted murders while doing their job. We should all be supporting them rather than standing with the offenders,” he tweeted, saying the officer was “seriously injured “following this “refusal to comply”.
According to the story of the DDSP, Monday around 11:30 p.m., customs officers wanted to check a vehicle, but the driver did not stop and he was chased.
– “Extremely shocked” –
The police then positioned themselves at a roundabout in Anzin, a town in the former mining area of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, in the agglomeration of Valenciennes, with the aim of puncturing the tires of the vehicle with a harrow.
But the driver took “the roundabout in the wrong direction” and hit a policeman before “ending his race in a post”.
According to a union source, the policeman’s colleagues, from the local security group patrol, “are extremely shocked”.
“As long as the court decisions are what they are, the thugs will never fear the police and unfortunately we see it every day”, reacted Frédéric Lagache, general delegate of Alliance.
The PCF deputy for the constituency, Fabien Roussel, indicated on BFM TV that he would go to see the policeman’s colleagues “this afternoon to give them all (his) support”.
RN deputy for the North Sébastien Chenu called on him on Twitter for justice to “act quickly and firmly against this delinquent driver”.
In 2022, two gendarmes were “seriously injured” during a refusal to comply at the end of August in Creuse. In February, a policewoman was “seriously injured” in Lille, hit by a motorist. The last police death dates back to August 2020 in Sarthe.
Fatal police shootings when they refuse to comply have caused 10 deaths since the beginning of the year, the last in Nice and Rennes on September 7.
According to figures obtained by AFP from a police source, the number of refusals to comply in the police zone has been stable for the past three years. There were 14,256 in 2021, compared to 13,018 in 2020 and 14,075 in 2019.
