Europe: On the previous Thursday, at about 17:00, a police car hit an 18-year-old man on a motorcycle head-on between Place Rouppe and the Boulevard Lemonnier after a chase through the centre of Brussels.
The young man was riding a motorbike without a helmet as well as without a license plate and was spotted by a patrol from the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone. After a chase, the police car collided with the motorcycle, knocking the man off his bike.
Security footage by the sources shows the motorcycle passing through the field of the camera. Just out of view, it is hit by the police van, after which the rider can be seen being violently propelled backwards.
Moreover, the police spoke of a “chase” as well as a “collision” between the motorcycle and the police vehicle but declined to comment further. The Brussels Public Prosecutor’s Office also started an investigation, “as in each accident involving a police vehicle.”
The 18-year-old, only identified as Younès, shared the information that he was repairing his motorcycle on Thursday afternoon and took it “for a short ride” around the neighbourhood to try it out. He admitted that he was not wearing a helmet and that his motorcycle did not have a licence plate but said that he did not realise the police were following him as they had not turned on the sirens.
Along with this, after going up Avenue Stalingrad towards Place Rouppe, he entered Rue de Touranai as well as found himself facing the police van coming in the wrong direction. “I was going left, and they were also going left. Then I turned to the right sharply, and they also went right.”
Several police officers instantly got out of the vehicle to check on Younès after he was flung back and knocked off his motorbike, according to the videotape. Younès stays on the ground for at least a minute.
