Last Thursday around 17:00, a police car hit an 18-year-old man on a motorcycle head-on between Place Rouppe and the Boulevard Lemonnier after a chase through the centre of Brussels.
The young man was riding a motorbike without a helmet and without a license plate, and was spotted by a patrol from the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone. After a chase, the police car collided with the motorcycle, knocking the man off his bike.
Security footage analysed by La Dernière Heure shows the motorcycle passing through the field of the camera. Just out of view, it is hit by the police van, after which the rider can be seen being violently propelled backwards.
The police spoke of a "chase" and a "collision" between the motorcycle and the police vehicle but declined to comment further. The Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office also started an investigation, "as in each accident involving a police vehicle.”
The 18-year-old, only identified as Younès, told La DH that he was repairing his motorcycle on Thursday afternoon, and took it "for a short ride" around the neighbourhood to try it out. He admitted that he was not wearing a helmet and that his motorcycle did not have a licence plate, but said that he did not realise the police were following him as they had not turned on the sirens.
After going up Avenue Stalingrad towards Place Rouppe, he entered Rue de Tournai and found himself facing the police van coming in the wrong direction. "I was going left, and they were also going left. Then I turned to the right sharply, and they also went right."
'No reason to run me over'
The security footage shows that Younès was then thrown back and off his motorcycle, with several police officers immediately getting out of the car to check on him. For at least one minute, Younès remains on the ground.
He was then taken to the emergency room of the CHU Saint-Pierre hospital by the police, where the doctors find that Younès has a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm, and bruises and scratches all over his body. "I can not bend my knees or turn my back," he said, adding that the police wanted to take his statements and ask him a few questions, but the doctor objected.
"I understand that it is not right what I did. I admit my wrongs, but that is no reason to run me over. There are several who died like this," Younès said, referring to other cases where the police cars have hit young people with a fatal outcome, such as Sabrina and Ouassim, Mehdi or more recently Adil.
Related News
- Complaints against police confirm systemic racism and violence
- Coronavirus: teen's death in police check investigated as involuntary manslaughter
- Nine arrested during incident in Anneessens neighbourhood
Since the accident on Thursday, the Anneessens-Lemonnier district has reportedly been very tense between young people and the police who have "increased their presence in the neighbourhood."
According to several local residents interviewed by Bruzz, the incident on Sunday evening, when nine people were arrested for setting fire to a vehicle and several rubbish bins, is related to Thursday's accident.
“Of course, those fires were a reaction of young people to that collision. To say otherwise would be naive," said Saïd, a local resident.
According to the newspaper, several people spontaneously referred to the collision in which 19-year-old Adil died in 2020. The scooter driver had also fled from the police and he was also grabbed by a police car coming from the other direction. "Do the police really have to take such risks because someone is driving around without a helmet and license plate?"
