Le Mans (AFP)
"Refusing authority, this is the evil of society," said Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Wednesday, who came to Le Mans to pay tribute to the 43-year-old policeman killed on the night of August 5 to 6 by a driver.
"This refusal of authority, it is the police, gendarmes and firefighters who suffer the consequences on a daily basis", he said in the presence of Eric Monroy's family and his colleagues from the police station. Mans.
The minister recalled that "every half hour, women and men risk their lives because people do not stop in front of the uniform, in front of legitimate force". "This refusal to comply is a refusal of authority, this refusal of authority, it is a refusal of the Republic".
Gérald Darmanin paid tribute to the emergency police officers, including Eric Monroy, "these everyday police officers who are always present who help, who assist, who comfort (...) these police officers who are there when everything goes wrong, when our fellow citizens no longer have anyone to turn to ”.
"You never really know who or what you will come across when the phone rings or the service radio indicates to go to an intervention," he added.
"These guardian angels, this rescue police, are the elite police officers of our daily life."
On the night of August 5 to 6, Eric Monroy died during the intervention after being struck by a motorist already convicted of refusing to comply, who was trying to flee.
Called by the firefighters to "assist a drunk driver of a vehicle, who fell asleep in the middle of the road", the policeman, a member of a crew of three officers from the Le Mans emergency police unit, had been dragged several meters by the driver before being thrown on a wall.
"It was a trivial mission, a simple mission of assistance which will have cost you your life," said Mr. Darmanin who promoted to the rank of captain and decorated with the Legion of Honor Eric Monroy.
At the time of the tribute, a minute of silence was observed in all police stations and gendarmerie services.
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