A former police officer who was dismissed for violent conduct was arrested on Thursday in uniform and armed in the Brussels municipality of Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. He was reportedly falsely impersonating an officer.
The man, who had been a Brussels police officer from 2019 to 2023, was automatically dismissed – one of the most severe sanctions – in April last year for an act of "disproportionate violence" committed in May 2022 in the Laeken police station.
The man had "violently thrown" a detainee into a cell "head first against the wall and the bench" for no apparent reason. The victim was left injured, and the officer was therefore excluded from the police force.
However, despite being fired over a year ago, Le Soir reported that he was spotted wearing his old uniform and carrying a weapon near Tour&Taxis on Sunday 25 August.
That same day, Brussels-West police officers were then later called to an address in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean for an attempted burglary, the Brussels Public Prosecutor's Office confirmed.
"And then, to their surprise, the police patrols arrived on the scene to find that the individual trying to get through the door was wearing the sky-blue polo shirt, trousers and belt with weapon typical of the police uniform in the Brussels areas," a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor's Office, Yasmina Vanoverschelde, said.
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The police uniform he was wearing belonged to his former employer but the weapon he was carrying as part of his uniform appeared to be his own. "It soon became apparent that this person was falsely impersonating an officer," Vanoverschelde added.
He has been placed under arrest by an examining magistrate, and charged with harassment, illegally wearing a uniform, usurpation of title and carrying a weapon subject to authorisation. Meanwhile, an investigation is ongoing to shed light on the incident.
