“I just wanted to escape,” defends the driver of the van at the helm

On the first day of the hearing, Farès D. admitted he was the driver of the 3-ton van that overturned a policeman in January 2020 in Bron, near Lyon, but denied any intention to kill. “I just wanted to run away,” he told the jury.

Farès D., 24, is on trial for 3 days before the Rhone Assize Court for the murder of a person who exercises public authority in the exercise of his duties.

“The question is whether he measured the consequences, and if beyond that, his will was to kill. The whole debate of this audience is that. And I firmly believe that he never had that intention“, His lawyer Me Julien Charle told the press.

On the night of 10 to 11 January 2020, Farès D. is driving a van. All he has to do is, with accomplices, to rob a load of detergents in the Isère. “opportunists“Said one of the witnesses, a police major, describing sometimes ill-prepared criminals.

The team of thugs is therefore under police surveillance. About fifteen facts are charged to him, according to the same method: violent thefts of goods pretending to be the police. That night, the police decide to arrest them.

The Operational Support Group (GAO), to which Franck Labois belongs, the murdered policeman, arrives as reinforcements to intercept the van. At Bron, the van finds itself blocked by two vehicles. While trying to free himself, he then hit Franck Labois.

At the helm, the director of the GAO in a broken voice describes his arrival at the scene of the tragedy. “Franck is lying, and here is a vision of horror“describes the police commander.”Franck may have thought too much“, he tries to understand his boss, who has been specifying this since July 2017”at GAO we never used the gun“.

Arrested a few days later, on January 16, 2020, Farès D. immediately recognized that he was the driver according to investigators. “I didn’t want to do it. I saw a space, I accelerated without telling myself that I would hit it“, He says at the end of the first day of the hearing.

Intercepted in the prison where he is in custody, Farès D. tells his relatives that the policeman wanted “play superhero“.”It was him or me“he says. Words that the accused now claims to regret.”I have many regrets, despite what I may have said“.

The trial should last 3 days. Three days during which the jurors will have to determine whether Farès D. deliberately came across Franck Labois or not. An ordeal for the policeman’s family. “My brother worked for justice, so I expect a lot from justice. We will see. It is a very difficult time“, Franck Labois’s brother slips.

The verdict is expected on Wednesday 9 November 2022.