Officer who fatally struck boy with police car arrested

The police officer behind the wheel of the patrol car that struck and killed an 11-year-old boy in the Brussels neighbourhood of Ganshoren has been placed under house arrest for charges involving malicious obstruction of traffic resulting in death.

Committee P, the police oversight body, has been investigating whether the fatal accident in Elisabeth Park last week could have been avoided.

Officers were pursuing the 11-year-old boy because they thought he looked too young to be riding a scooter. According to the Brussels public prosecutor's office, the police chased him by car at speeds of more than 40 km/h through a park where pedestrians were walking around and where vehicles are not allowed.

The police officers involved in the collision did not have their flashing lights or sirens on during the chase and investigators found inconsistencies in their account of the events.

“It became clear quite quickly that there were contradictions between what the officers stated and the objective facts,” said public prosecutor Julien Moinil. “That’s why searches were carried out and their mobile phones were seized.”

It remains unclear whether the boy fell and was then run over or was run over and then fell.

“We absolutely have to find that out,” said Moinil, adding that what is clear is that the boy died after his head was hit by the vehicle.

The driver of the police car faces a potential sentence of 20 to 30 years in prison. Moinil emphasised that the officer never intended to kill anyone, but wanted to stop the boy at all costs. His colleague, who was also in the car, has not been placed under arrest.

A second investigation is underway which focuses on the scooter the boy was riding. It is believed to be a Chinese brand and the court is investigating whether the vehicle complies with Belgian law.

The public prosecutor's office has already traced the shop in Brussels where the device was purchased, seizing €63,000 in cash in small denominations, as well as a small amount of drugs.

Police unions said that the arrest of the driver came as a surprise.

The arrested officer is 26 years old and has only had his driving licence since 2023. New to the Brussels area, he is originally from Wallonia.

Union leadership and police colleagues argue that, while tragic, the events were an accident involving a rookie police officer who made a mistake while handling a difficult situation.

“It’s not up to us to do the work of the public prosecutor's office, and it goes without saying that this collision must be thoroughly investigated, but this does raise a number of questions,” said Carlo Medo, national chairman of the NSPV police union.

“For someone to be placed under arrest, a number of conditions must be met, such as the risk of reoffending and/or the risk of absconding. This is absolutely not the case here. You may well ask what signal this sends to the police.”

Joery Dehaes, secretary of the ACV Police union, also referred to a "highly unusual course of events".

“Unfortunately, there was a fatality, and someone is indeed responsible for that, but when you look at similar cases, an arrest warrant is only requested in certain cases,” Dehaes said, adding that these generally involve cases of suspected alcohol or drug use, or a risk of flight or repeat offending.

“At the moment, we do not believe that this is the case here, though we must, of course, await further clarification from the public prosecutor's office.”

Dehaes said that the arrest had left its mark on the police: “We are almost certain that 95% of the force is shocked by this court decision. It’s not right.”

Unions said that police, who are already struggling to recruit, worry about the message sent by the arrest.

“It's very hard – how can you imagine a road accident? How can you imagine resorting to force when you think of a police officer having to shoot a human being?” said François-Xavier Cornet, union representative and active duty officer.

“We’re dealing with human beings. The public needs to realise that we are just human beings, among other human beings.”

Three separate rallies are expected on Friday at Place Poelaert in Brussels in front of the courthouse: one in support of the arrested police officer, one in memory of the victim and the third for Sourour Abouda, who died in 2023 in a police station in the Brussels-Capital/Ixelles police zone.

The rallies have been scheduled so that they do not coincide with each other.