One year in prison, without adjustment of sentence: the 46-year-old man who caused a chase of fifteen kilometers at the wheel of his 4×4 BMW X3, Saturday February 19 in the streets of Saint-Jean-de-Luz and of Ascain, will remain in prison. Placed in pre-trial detention after his arrest, he appeared this Thursday in immediate appearance before the Bayonne Criminal Court for refusing to comply aggravated by endangering the life of others, hit and run and failure to assist a person in danger. The crazy race had ended in a dead end, the man had then managed to sow the police.
During the hearing, the defendant’s criminal record did not work in his favor. Since 1996, he has displayed more than a dozen convictions, in correctional and assizes, for facts ranging from the refusal to comply (already!) to theft with a weapon, including drug trafficking and driving under the influence of an alcoholic state. The examination of his personality also weighed in the balance for this former alcoholic, occasional consumer of narcotics.
The defendant’s lawyer is ironic about the version of the police
It is common for the police to criticize the slowness of justice. It was therefore surprising to hear the agents’ lawyer be sorry that the defendant was tried quickly. Because while he was initially prosecuted for intentional violence against persons holding public authority, an expert report has called into question the story of the three police officers.
This Saturday evening, after driving at breakneck speed in the middle of town, he hit a dead end. The officers follow him, and claim that he then engages the reverse gear and rushes at them deliberately to flee. Their car ends up on its side, an agent is slightly injured.
The judgment goes beyond the requisitions
But the expert concluded that it was the police who, turning into a dead end, got into the driver’s BMW, then stationary or in reverse, but at low speed. A likely swerve by the agent behind the wheel and the sloping terrain overturns their car on the side. The defendant’s lawyer, Me Antoine Tugas, was ironic at length at the hearing about the discrepancy between the testimony of the police and the expert report. But that was not enough to mollify the court.
At the helm, the driver acknowledges that after the accident, he fled while smoke was coming out of the police car, and no one was moving inside. The prosecutor requires one year in prison with adjustment of sentence, taking into account the now stable situation of the defendant, employee and married. The judge excludes the adjustment of sentenceretaining the risk of recidivism and the fragility of this man.
The SGP Police FO Unit union continues to support the version of the agents, and regrets that more in-depth expertise has not been carried out. Me Tugas, for his part, evokes the possibility for his client to appeal.