This Wednesday, a 20-year-old man is to be judged in immediate appearance, suspected of having seriously injured an eight-year-old child by hitting him on a motorcycle in Beauvais, in the Oise, announced the prosecutor's office. The mayor denounced a "wild rodeo" with "dramatic" consequences.

Sunday, "two unapproved motorcycles were traveling at high speed" in a street of Beauvais, when they saw a police car, says the prosecutor of the Republic of Beauvais, Caroline Tharot, in a statement. One of the pilots then "took a pedestrian lane separated from the traffic lane by studs, in order to prohibit the passage of vehicles". That's when he "hit an eight-year-old boy on that lane, seriously injuring him," she said. Taken to the hospital, the little boy was issued 30 days of ITT (total incapacity for work), "subject to subsequent complications," according to the prosecutor.

"We want to kill at that moment"

The respondent, "almost 21 years old", was "kept on the scene by the father" of the child and arrested on the spot, she said. To our colleagues of BFM, the father of the child admitted to having hit the biker. "We want to kill at that moment," he said, adding that he only stopped after a call from his wife explaining that his son needed him. "Otherwise I would kill him, I'm sure," the father said.

The defendant is to be tried in immediate appearance, this Wednesday, at 14 p.m., for "unintentional injuries with incapacity not exceeding 3 months per driver of a land motor vehicle and manifestly deliberate breach of a duty of safety or prudence". Other offences include "uninsured" traffic and "rebellion" for struggling during his arrest. Prior to the hearing, the motorcyclist had been remanded in custody.

On Monday, the mayor of the city Franck Pia had deplored the accident on Facebook, evoking a "wild rodeo" with heavy consequences. He said he was "angered by such irresponsible, life-threatening behaviour" and had "tipped a family into horror".

  • Justice
  • Hauts-de-France
  • Picardy
  • Urban Rodeo
  • Motorcyclist
  • Child