In La Rochelle, a police officer was attacked with a knife by a man who entered the police station. The attacker was taken into custody.
A police officer attacked at his workplace. This Tuesday, February 13, an individual presented himself around 1 p.m. at the reception of the La Rochelle police station. He asked to speak to the official who had taken the complaint from his ex-partner a few hours earlier and in which he was accused of domestic violence, according to Sud-Ouest. The police officer concerned then appeared in the lobby of the police station. The attacker was “very agitated”, even refusing to sit down according to details from Le Parisien, and threw himself at the police officer armed with a knife. After hitting him, he stabbed him several times. The attacker was finally tased and quickly subdued thanks to the intervention of five people.
The victim was injured in the hand and neck but his life-threatening condition was not serious: the injuries were only superficial. Her attacker was taken into custody. BFMTV indicates that the man is of French nationality and that his criminal record is empty.
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. An investigation was opened and entrusted to the Organized and Specialized Crime Division.
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.
