A “terrible tragedy”, a 22-year-old police officer dies on the Nantes ring road during an intervention

A young deputy police officer lost his life during the night from Friday to Saturday while he was on intervention on the Nantes ring road. He was pursuing individuals who had fled on foot.

A deputy police officer from the Saint-Herblain police station, near Nantes, lost his life last night on the Nantes inner ring road.

He then pursued "individuals who fled on foot during an intervention", as indicated this Saturday morning on X Laurent Nuñez, the Minister of the Interior, who deplores a "terrible tragedy".

I want to express my immense emotion and my deep sadness.

Laurent Nuñez

Minister of the Interior

The prefect of Loire-Atlantique, Laurent Hottiaux also sends his “most sincere condolences to the family and loved ones of the deceased police officer”

The police officer was hit by a “third party vehicle” which was traveling at the time on the Nantes ring road.

During the tragedy, the police officer was "with her colleagues, alongside the Direction Interdépartementale des Routes Ouest (DIRO) to take charge of a vehicle which had broken down on the outer ring road and parked on the emergency lane, the occupants of which fled, one of them, after having damaged a rear-view mirror of the DIRO vehicle, crossing the ring road pursued by the young police officer who was to be fatally struck by a third party vehicle", specifies Antoine Leroy, the Nantes prosecutor this Saturday morning.

Emergency services were called to the scene around 1:10 a.m. When they arrived, the police officer was in cardio-respiratory arrest. “Despite attempts at cardiopulmonary resuscitation, the victim was declared dead by the SMUR doctor,” the firefighters said this Saturday morning.

“The driver of the third-party vehicle, shocked, was transported to the hospital in a light condition,” also indicates SDIS 44.

According to Presse-Océan, the driver, who was in compliance, had consumed neither alcohol nor drugs.

An investigation has been opened by the Nantes public prosecutor's office.