The President of the Republic went, Thursday, May 25, to Roubaix (North), where he participated in a tribute to the three police officers killed on Sunday in intervention, in a collision with a vehicle traveling in the wrong direction. Emmanuel Macron met the families and colleagues of these three young police officers and presided over a ceremony at the national police school in Roubaix.
The Head of State spoke during the ceremony, which was also attended by the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin. Mr. Macron began his speech by denouncing “behavior that kills”, affirming his “respect” and “affection” for “those who serve and protect”. The Head of State lamented that “too many of our public officials” have been “carried away in the exercise of their mission in recent years”, and extended his tribute to “all those who, at their task every day, ostensibly serve the French”. “You have not only chosen a career but a commitment,” the president said to all the police officers present.
Posthumously decorated police officers
“In the name of the French Republic, I present to you the insignia of Knight of the Legion of Honor. Long live the national police, long live the republic and long live France,” said the Head of State in conclusion, before placing these decorations on the coffins of the three police officers.
During questions to the government on Wednesday in the Senate, Mr. Darmanin called the driver of the car who hit the police vehicle, himself dead in the accident, a “murderer”. “This assassin (…) – because you have to use the words that count – killed not only three destinies but injured the entire national police”, launched the minister. “Too many drivers, too many murderers are killing on the roads under the influence of narcotics and alcohol,” he added.
The facts date back to Sunday morning, when an Alfa Romeo traveling in the wrong direction hit the police car which transported, in addition to the three young police officers, a 16-year-old girl whom they were taking to see a doctor after violence which she had denounced in the night. The girl was seriously injured in the accident. The 23-year-old Alfa Romeo passenger was seriously injured.
Twelve members of the police have died in the past fifteen years in multi-murderous accidents for the police, the last of which, which occurred on April 11 in the Landes, cost the lives of two gendarmes who were trying to control a vehicle traveling dangerously at high speed.
