A police officer and the sub-prefect of Moselle were slightly injured in his escape. A 36-year-old man, prosecuted for refusing to comply in March, was sentenced Monday to two years in prison by the Metz criminal court.
The thirty-year-old, who had already been sentenced for refusing to comply, was found guilty of violence against police officers as well as the sub-prefect, the prefect's chief of staff. Jacqueline Mercury-Giorgetti, who suffered from neck pain, was not prescribed ITT and did not become a civil party at the hearing.
The incident occurred on March 1, during an "immersion in a classic setting with the police and gendarmerie services, as do all sub-prefects who arrive on duty", explained the prefecture the day after the events .
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That evening, three police officers from the Specialized Field Brigade (BST) had spotted a vehicle which appeared stolen in their files, and had stood in its way in order to arrest its driver. The man, who was driving without a license, then drove off again, hitting the police car and an official who subsequently had four days of ITT. What followed was a nine-kilometer chase during which the driver repeatedly violated the Highway Code, recalled public prosecutor Élise Bozzolo. As he fled, he still hit police vehicles.
“Capable of anything”
During the hearing on Monday, the lawyer for the civil party police officers Stéphanie Rosati denounced a “real, violent attack” by an “individual capable of doing anything to escape (the police officers) at all costs, even if it means injuring them, killing them , to put their lives in danger. The prosecutor had requested three years of imprisonment, six of which were suspended, in view of “the seriousness of the facts” and the state of recidivism.
Me Arnaud Blanc, defense lawyer, pleaded for “a return to more reason”, with a “mixed sentence” which would not signify “the social death” of the defendant. The latter said he was “absolutely sorry for what happened”. He was a repeat offender, having already been sentenced to eight months' suspended imprisonment in 2021 and seven months in prison in January, prison sentences which are in addition to those handed down by the court. He has ten days to appeal.