In La Rochelle, a police officer was attacked with a knife by a man inside a police station on Tuesday February 13. The attacker was taken into custody, but his motives are not clearly established.
The investigation continues after the attack on a police officer at his workplace. Tuesday February 13, an individual showed up at the reception of the La Rochelle police station, in Charente-Maritime, and attacked a civil servant. The man armed with a knife was immobilized using a taser and was quickly subdued thanks to the intervention of five people. The police officer was injured and has several wounds, notably on his hands and neck, but his life is out of danger.
The suspect was taken into police custody and is still being questioned by investigators this Wednesday, February 14, announced the La Rochelle public prosecutor, Arnaud Laraize, at a press conference. “The motivations of the person accused are not yet known at this stage. It nevertheless seems that no terrorist intention is at work,” said the magistrate, who added that the national anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office, informed of the facts, “will not didn’t get it.” The man suspected of attacking the police officer is not known to the police.
If the motivations for the attack are not yet clearly established, according to the unfolding of the facts reported by Sud-Ouest, the suspect asked to speak to the official who took the complaint from his ex-partner a few hours earlier and in which he was accused of domestic violence. The police officer concerned then showed up and was punched and stabbed by the attacker. An investigation has been opened into the attempted murder of a police officer. A qualification justified by the carrying of a bladed weapon, the blows delivered and the “perseverance” of the suspect “despite the intervention of a third party”.
Contacted by Sud-Ouest, the Unité SGP Police union denounced this attack: “We are shocked once again by this gratuitous violence committed against the police. This attack is violent and traumatic.” The union would like “the installation of a security gate” in front of the police stations which could have prevented the attacker, while he was armed, from easily entering the police station. The union also asks for “the anonymization of procedures” so that the names of the police officers involved in a case are not disclosed. The injured police officer had his name on the complaint filed the day before, which would have allowed his attacker to find him. The latter would have acted out of anger or revenge.
Several incidents involving police officers have taken place near La Rochelle in recent months. Last May, a police officer was seriously injured by a fleeing driver, as reported by CNews. Even more recently, in August, a police officer had his thumb severed by a cyclist during a check. The latter was arrested because he was wearing headphones while pedaling. Not accepting the verbalization, he was belted and while struggling, he bit the hand of a BAC official, tearing off his first phalanx of his thumb.
