A 9-year-old girl was injured Wednesday evening in Pontoise (Val-d’Oise) by the driver of a motocross who engaged in an urban rodeo. The suspect, believed to be 15 and a half years old, was arrested shortly after the incident before being taken into custody at the local police station.
The police were called alongside the firefighters around 8:45 p.m., in the Cordeliers district, at the corner of rue Édouard-Martel and rue Rodin. They took care of the child who suffered from foot pain.
The first witnesses say that a young man, perched on this two-wheeler, was driving at breakneck speed in the street located near the city cemetery. A car came in front, forcing him to swerve. And he rolled over the foot of the child who was walking on the sidewalk in front of his home with his family.
Arrested, he admitted the facts
His parents called the emergency services which quickly arrived on the spot as well as many police forces, the mayor of the town and the prefect of Val-d’Oise. The young victim was taken to Pontoise hospital to undergo an X-ray and additional examinations.
The doctor diagnosed him with a sprained left foot. The child, who lives in the neighborhood with his family, was able to quickly leave the hospital center to return to his home. She will have to walk on crutches for at least two weeks.
Two vehicles seized by law enforcement
The police conducted searches in the neighborhood before finding the machine and its driver, not far from there. This young man himself from the Cordeliers district was arrested and he immediately admitted the facts. He was taken into custody for unintentional injuries and the prosecution will make a decision on his fate within the next 24 hours. The motocross was seized by the police as well as a second machine which was stored in the same place.
For the record, on Friday August 5, already in Pontoise, two children — a 7-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy — were run over rue des Hauts-de-Marcouville by a dark-coloured motocross bike.
The driver of the machine, 18 years old, had become a prisoner and this event led to a lively controversy on urban rodeos. Since then, the police have been on a war footing to fight against this phenomenon.
The Minister of the Interior has asked each police station to carry out at least three control operations per day to limit the phenomenon that pollutes neighborhood life every summer. “In the Val-d’Oise, we often exceed this number”, explains Philippe Court, the prefect of the department. The territory had already equipped itself with a very active “rodeo cell” since 2019. But its action has intensified further in recent weeks after the tragedy in Marcouville.
28 arrests and 18 seizures of motorcycles during the 258 recent operations
Thus, since the beginning of April 2022, police and gendarmes have carried out 877 operations, including 258 only in the last ten days. These most recent deployments have led to the arrest of 28 people (112 in total since April) and the seizure of 19 motorcycles (out of 72 in total in five months).
“We vary the methods of control, on the ground, in a helicopter. This Wednesday, we visited the boxes deemed vacant in the Marcouville district, ”specifies the prefect.
The authorities also rely on the legal response to dissuade reckless young drivers and encourage all residents to dial 17 in the event of dangerous behavior on two wheels. “All calls are answered and callers’ names are never mentioned. »
Finally, the Val-d’Oise prefecture indicates that it is working with donors “to increase the number of cameras monitoring, in particular, open places suitable for rodeos. »
“The very strong presence of the police allowed a rapid response”
A mobilization hailed by the mayor of Pontoise (Free!), Stéphanie Von Euw. “It is the very strong presence of the police in the city in recent days which has allowed a rapid response on Thursday evening”, underlines the elected official, struck by “seeing the unconsciousness of these young people”. “We experienced a tragedy in Marcouville which moved the whole of France, and yet it continues! “, she fumes.
The municipal police of Pontoise is already very involved in the fight against urban rodeos. “We all have to do it, citizens must report systematically, the municipal police collect as much information as possible to allow the municipal police to intervene at the hiding places”, estimates Stéphanie Von Euw.
For the mayor, the only effective struggle is one that allows to challenge and seize, then destroy. “In this way, we do prevention at the same time since there are no more motorcycles. »