Three police officers who were involved in a chase that killed two young people in their twenties in 2017 will appear before the Brussels police court.
This was decided on Wednesday by the Brussels Indictment Chamber, the lawyer representing families of the victims reported on Wednesday.
The chase took place on 9 May 2017. According to the Brussels public prosecutor’s office, a police patrol noticed a motorcyclist who was driving recklessly, with a pillion-rider behind him, around 9.30 p.m. on Place Poelaert and went after the motorcyclist.
A dog brigade patrol reportedly heard via on the police radio that a chase was underway on Avenue Louise and slowed down in the right lane so that the chase could continue in the left lane. The motorcyclist then drove into the rear of that vehicle, on the left side.
The motorcyclist, 24-year-old Ouassim Toumi, was killed instantly while his passenger, 20-year-old Sabrina El Bakkali, was seriously injured and died in hospital later that night.
In 2021, the public prosecutor asked the council chamber to suspend the prosecution of the officers involved, moving that no criminal offence had been committed. However, the families of both victims urged that the officers should stand trial.
The council chamber ruled that the pursuit was disproportionate and that the police should not have put lives at risk for a traffic violation that could be fined. As a result, the case was sent back to the public prosecutor’s office, so that the police officers involved could be placed under suspicion.
The prosecutor’s office first appealed against that decision, but then changed its mind. The three police officers were charged and brought before the police court on Wednesday.
