A chief inspector of Belgium's Federal Judicial Police was arrested for allegedly causing a nuisance, hitting a waiter and insulting a police officer in a Brussels bar while drunk with two colleagues last weekend.
According to reports by 7sur7, the chief inspector, a female colleague, and a commissioner were in a bar on Rue Sainte-Catherine in Brussels' city centre on Friday evening. The bar staff received several complaints from other customers because the three were clearly drunk, and the two men were reportedly fondling their female colleague.
When the manager asked them to leave, the police commissioner reportedly waved him away, stating that they were from the police. When asked to leave for the second time, the evening "got out of hand": the chief inspector allegedly lashed out at the manager, who then called the local Brussels police.
A waiter and another customer managed to get the three outside, but the chief inspector allegedly hit the waiter and destroyed patio furniture once he was outside, La Libre reports.
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However, the situation did not de-escalate when the local police arrived: the commissioner and chief inspector allegedly claimed that they were working for the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau and were conducting an observation.
To make matters worse, the chief inspector allegedly called a local police inspector a "sale Arabe" ("dirty Arab" in French) and tried to hit him, RTL reports.
As he resisted while he was being handcuffed, the chief inspector also fell and lost consciousness.
The local police confirmed their intervention to VRT, but referred to the Public Prosecutor's Office for further comment. "I can only confirm that an investigation is ongoing."
"The investigation is ongoing and will reveal what exactly happened," the press service for the Federal Police stated. "Additionally, we are checking internally which measures need to be taken regarding each of the three employees."