French media outlets are reporting that a man has been shot after threatening the public with a knife and stabbing a police officer near the finish of today’s fourth stage of the Tour de France in Rouen.
According to Le Parisien the suspect was shot in the leg and has been arrested. He was reportedly already wanted having been on the run from hospital for a fortnight, with an “unbalanced recent psychological history”.
In a press release being circulated among French news sites, the public prosecutor Sébastien Gallois suggested the incident happened at around 3.30pm (local time) at a roundabout close to the stage finish in Rouen where later in the afternoon Tadej Pogačar claimed his 100th win as a professional.
The suspect was reportedly threatening members of the public with a knife but tried to flee when police officers intervened.
“The police officers pursued him and attempted to restrain the suspect, who then stabbed one of the CRS officers in the chest. Thanks to his chest protector, the CRS officer was not injured. At the same time, seeing his colleague being attacked, another CRS officer fired a shot with his service weapon,” the press release reportedly stated.
The suspect is not thought to be seriously injured and has been arrested, an investigation into the alleged attempted murder of a police officer underway.
A second report by Valeurs Actuelles suggests the officer who was stabbed suffered a minor hand injury during the incident.
6 thoughts on “Knife-wielding man shot and arrested at Tour de France stage finish after suspect stabbed police officer”
Isn’t it amazing that a
Isn’t it amazing that a police force knows how to shoot a mentally ill person in the leg to disable them. Perhps they can come and show the Met how to do that?
Wouldn’t the met use a taser
Wouldn’t the met use a taser first ? And how do you know this shot was accurate ?
True. They could have been
True. They could have been really awful marksmen (women) who were aiming for his head
Good thing it wasn’t a
Good thing it wasn’t a Stormtrooper, they have a terrible record for accuracy.
My understanding:
My understanding:
Police are not 100% accurate, and there is consistent evidence that accuracy in operation situations is much lower than in training. In America, only 35% of bullets fired hit the target (source). Obviously that’s America, and the situation in Europe is probably a bit better – although I understand French police officers are routinely armed (so have probably received less training than dedicated specialist firearms officers as we have in the UK).
Police are typically trained to aim for the centre of mass (torso). If it is deemed necessary to shoot someone (due to an immediate threat to life) then the objective is to incapacitate the offender as quickly and reliably as possible. Aiming for a leg is therefore a risky strategy, as it is a smaller target and easier to miss.
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