The scene takes place on rue de Tournai between place Rouppe and boulevard Maurice Lemonnier, right in the center of the capital. A young driver on a motorcycle, without a helmet and without a license plate, is spotted by the police. He flees. Then is hit, from the front, by a police suit, in the wrong direction in the artery. A street trader testifies: “The police took the street in the wrong direction and they clearly aimed at the motorcycle. We can see that they swerved to the left to target him. I’m not saying that the youngster had done nothing, he hadn’t no helmet and no plate. But is this a normal method? The youngster was not putting anyone other than himself at risk, there was no one in the street.”
For their part, the police simply evoke a chase during which “a motorcycle collided with a police vehicle.”The spokesperson for the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles zone will not make any further comment. We also tried to contact the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, which had no further information except that “During an accident involving a police vehicle, the prosecution directly opens a file.”
“Fleeing the police cannot be a reason to take the risk of killing.”
The surveillance camera images that were sent to us clearly show the motorcycle passing and then exiting the frame. The violence of the impact will cause the motorcycle to roll backwards and fly its pilot back into the camera’s field of vision. The circumstances are reminiscent of the Sabrina and Ouassim case. The two young people died, avenue Louise, in 2017, following a collision with the police. Five years later, justice has still not decided who is responsible in this case. The case of Adil, death at 19 following a collision with a police vehicle which came in the opposite direction also echoes Thursday’s event. We showed the video of this surveillance Thursday to Me Joke Callewaert, Sabrina’s family lawyer.
“It seems to me that we can draw a comparison with what happened to Sabrina and Ouassim, but especially also to Adil. […] If it’s not a chase, but an attempt to stop the youngster by running into him, that’s problematic. Being on a motorcycle demonstrates extreme vulnerability. On the other hand, we can see that it is not armed. There is therefore no direct danger to others. In such cases, chases should be prohibited. And in any case, we do not enter it frontally. It’s too dangerous. […] Running away from the police cannot be a reason to take the risk of killing someone.”
According to information gathered by our colleagues from Belga, the young man escaped with minor injuries but was still transferred to hospital.
