A 14-year-old high school student strangled by a police officer in front of her high school in Alençon

Videos of the scene circulated widely on social networks. Tuesday September 29, 2026, a 14-year-old high school student was arrested in front of the Leclerc-Navarre high school, in Alençon (Orne). She claims to have been grabbed by the neck by a police officer, before being taken to the police station and placed in police custody, and describes that day.

She did not come to demonstrate. However, she found herself in police custody.

Tuesday, September 29, 2026 in the morning, a 14-year-old high school student left the boarding school to meet her friends in front of the Leclerc-Navarre high school, in Alençon (Orne). She stayed on site to watch what was happening when law enforcement intervened to allow firefighters to put out a fire. She then describes having been violently grabbed by the neck by a police officer and strangled.

Since then, the teenager, who wishes to remain anonymous, says she regularly thinks back to the scene, particularly when seeing the videos circulating on social networks. She testifies.

How are you doing today ?

"I'm fine. It's still a trauma, a little mental. Being strangled by a person who is supposed to protect us, it's certainly traumatic.

I think about it a lot, especially with the videos circulating on the networks. I don't really have any injuries, but I have a lot of neck pain, aches and pain in my jaw."

What happened in front of the school?

"The firefighters arrived to put out the fire. Some demonstrators tried to stop them by creating a large crowd. That's when the police began to push the students to clear around the fire and allow the firefighters to put it out.

There was a police officer who pushed me violently. I half fell and turned around to see who it was. I saw that it was a police officer. I tripped and fell with both hands on his chest, so it jostled him. He took a step back and, out of reflex, grabbed me directly by the neck, without even knowing what was happening.

That's where I got strangled. I begged him to let go of me because I couldn't breathe. There was panic, I heard screams behind me. I called for help, but the policeman didn't care.

He slammed me against the fence. He let go of my neck for a few seconds, allowing me to catch my breath. Then he grabbed me violently by the neck to take me a little further and put me on the ground.

I was alone for about five seconds. Then one of his colleagues gave me permission to get up. I started to get up, but the police officer who had held me by the neck did not agree. He slammed me back to the ground violently. His colleague again gave me permission to get up, but the police officer still did not agree and pushed me to the ground again. I was finally able to get up.

My throat hurt and my eyes stinged because a boy next to me had gotten himself gassed while trying to defend me. The gas reached me and, as I screamed, I got some in my mouth."

After this incident, you were arrested. What happened next?

“A gendarme took my identity: my name, my first name, my address. Then they took me in a police car to the police station to be placed in police custody.

My hands were handcuffed. I was able to call my mother for five minutes. It was a bit panicky, I was crying.

They interrogated me and asked me what happened. They hadn't seen the videos of the scene at the time, so they asked me questions: where I was, in which high school, my personal information.

I was able to speak with a lawyer. Then I was filmed and I had to recount in detail everything that had happened. I arrived at the police station around 10 a.m., after the arrest, and I left around 5:30 p.m. The interrogation lasted approximately 20 minutes.

The case was dismissed."

Have you returned to high school since the incident?

"I didn't go back to class. I simply went to the high school after my custody to get my things, because I'm at boarding school. I won't go back this week and I won't start again until Monday.

I know there are still protests. I know very well that people will come to me and say: “Are you okay?” I know it's not bad, but I prefer to stay at home for now and go back when it's calmer."

What state of mind are you in today?

"I'm a little angry because I have a part of me that tells me that the police officer will be able to get away with it because it's always the police officers who are right. It’s the adults who decide, they’re the ones who do their job.

I'm still a little traumatized. It's weird to see all these videos of me going around everywhere, being stopped by a police officer."

Why were you in front of the school that day? Are you demonstrating?

"I wasn't demonstrating, I was just there to watch. I'm at boarding school and we're not allowed on the phone. So my friends went out to use theirs. In this case, I didn't have mine because I had left it in my locker. So I went out around 7:30.

There were already two police cars outside. It was when our friends' buses arrived and everyone got off that things started to get out of hand.

The school doors were closed, we could no longer enter. I stayed there and watched what was happening."