Case of the police officer violently beaten in Belfort: what we know about the two videos

Is the case of the police officer violently beaten in Belfort taking a new turn? While the shocking images of this police officer being beaten on Friday by several individuals during high school demonstrations sparked strong reactions, a new video of the same police officer, apprehending a demonstrator in the water before his lynching, also sparked numerous comments this Saturday. Here is what we know about this case.

What happened?

On Friday, a video in which we see a plainclothes police officer, departmental head of territorial intelligence in Belfort, being beaten up by several people during high school demonstrations, circulated on the networks and caused a strong reaction, even in Beauvau. “These images of rare violence are unbearable,” wrote Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez immediately. “The intentionally targeted police officer was hospitalized after losing consciousness. Fortunately, his condition no longer causes any major concern at this time,” he added.

What does the new video show?

Another video, also filmed on Friday, before the lynching of the police officer, began to circulate on Friday evening, and has also caused a huge reaction since Saturday. We see the same police officer, kneeling in front of a stream, trying to control a young man who is in the water. The police officer is now accused of having held this person's head underwater for several seconds, and therefore of having tried to drown him.

The Belfort public prosecutor denied this information. “It is the individual who deliberately goes into the water” while trying to escape the agent who was pursuing him for his involvement in throwing projectiles and starting fire, affirms the magistrate. “Both fall into the stream, that’s why you have, at one point, a scene with the commander kneeling in the water and the individual sprawled on the water,” he explains. But the young person “cannot be immersed in water, there is not enough water to be immersed,” he continues.

Where is the investigation?

An investigation into attempted intentional homicide of the police officer, born in 1967, has been opened. Several people suspected of having participated in his beating have been identified. “We have several people likely to be among the main perpetrators” of the attack on the police commander, the prosecutor said late Saturday morning, saying he was “fairly optimistic” about the prospect of arresting them within 24 hours.

Among the suspects identified is the young man whom the police commander had handcuffed on the banks of the stream shortly before the attack, said the prosecutor. Recognizable by his “handcuff on his wrist”, he is “clearly identified as coming to deliver two violent kicks to the police officer’s head”, continues the magistrate.