"A dreadful drama." In the aftermath of the death of a 25-year-old gendarme, struck by a motorist during a gendarmerie operation in Port-Sainte-Marie, near Agen in the Lot-et-Garonne, the emotion is strong. The driver, quickly arrested, was driving without a license according to initial information. The thirty-something would have deflected his course to avoid the harrow deployed on the road, and mowed Mélanie Lemée, positioned on the shoulder. Seriously injured in the lower limbs, the gendarme did not survive despite the rapid intervention of the emergency services.
Mélanie Lemée, former judo champion, entered the gendarmerie following an injury, belonged to the brigade of Aiguillon, a town near Port-Sainte-Marie. "It is a dreadful drama which first affects his family, then the Aiguillon brigade and the entire Aiguillonnaise community", confides to Europe 1 the newly elected mayor, Christian Girardi. "We have no words to describe this dreadful act. People are dismayed." In tribute, the flags were flown at half-mast.
Tributes and a white march
The driver, currently in police custody, was known to the police for drug-related offenses. On Saturday evening, he tried to flee the police three times. First during a simple road check carried out by the gendarmes on a departmental Colayrac then a few minutes later in front of a roadblock held by the national police in Agen. It was during a third gendarmerie interception operation in Port-Sainte-Marie that the accident took place.
Tributes rain to salute the memory of the young woman, originally from Normandy. "We rushed to the gendarmerie to go and bring bouquets in homage to this young woman, to what the gendarmerie does," said the mayor. On its Facebook page, the gendarmerie of Lot-et-Garonne said it was "bruised" by the "death in service" of a "comrade" and expressed its "deep emotion towards the family, relatives and our Lot-et-Garonne comrades hit hard in these terrible circumstances. " Prime Minister Jean Castex, Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner and his Secretary of State Laurent Nuñez also expressed their deep emotion on Sunday.
Lot # LotEtGaronne Strong emotion after the death in service of the gendarme Mélanie Lemée of the brigade of proximity of Aiguillon (47), struck by a motorist on an interception device in # PortSainteMarie. # Support for his family, his close relations and his friends.
- National Gendarmerie (@Gendarmerie) July 5, 2020"I heard that the Aiguillonais spontaneously wanted to go for a white march, it is a good thing but the drama is there", deplores Christian Girardi. An investigation has been entrusted to the Bordeaux gendarmerie research section and an autopsy must be performed. The Agen Prosecutor's Office is also organizing a press conference on Monday at 11 a.m.