“I'm going to dump you at Chabal…”: the trial of a thirty-year-old who, completely drunk, attacked a police officer who came to his aid

The accused was tried, free, this Thursday, December 12, at the Alès court. MIDI LIBRE – CHARLES LEDUC

The accused, who describes himself as a “complete moron”, was tried this Thursday, December 12, before the Alès criminal court, for “a mind-boggling scene” that occurred in a village located in the north of Gard.

“I screwed up. I made a complete mess”, admits a 37-year-old man from Gard when recalling his evening of June 19 in Saint-Paul-le-Jeune, before the Alès criminal court, where he is being judged free, this Thursday, December 12, in immediate appearance.

Drunk after having swallowed more than two bottles of whisky, he had attacked the police officers who had come to his aid because, on his bike, he had just been knocked down by a car. Taken to the fire brigade van, he was aggressive towards the soldiers when his ex arrived. Visibly in a state of euphoria, he took out a knife which he pointed at a policeman before his former partner disarmed him, then shouted at this young civil servant who had left school two months earlier: “I'm going to dump you at Chabal…”An allusion to the famous charges of the former international rugby player Sébastien Chabal.

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A “huge emotional shock” for the policeman

“I was completely drunk”, says the man who nevertheless remembers most of the facts because “it's a scene that leaves a mark”, because of the pain felt because of the accident. “I went crazy”, he explains, apologizing to the targeted police officer, the victim, according to the prosecution, of a “immense emotional shock” that caused “insomnia”.

While the accused, who has since been receiving addiction treatment, describes himself as a “complete moron”, Quentin Larroque, the deputy public prosecutor, denounces a “staggering scene” and claims that “We must not minimize this violence”. Against this defendant who has twenty mentions on his criminal record, the public prosecutor is requesting two years in prison, half of which is suspended on probation for two years, accompanied by a committal order.

“A very heavy-handed humor”, according to the defense

“I do not understand the heaviness of these requisitions”, responds, in defense, Me Joris Numa. Pleading a lack of criminal intent, the lawyer hopes for an acquittal. To support his argument, he relies on the testimony of witnesses, according to whom his client did it to “play”, it was “almost mockery”. For the council, it was just a “very heavy humor that is not worth detention”.

The court does not order a committal warrant. However, it sentences the thirty-year-old to 18 months in prison, seven months of which are suspended for two years. A sentence, therefore, theoretically convertible.

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