Europe 1 with AFP 9:11 p.m., November 26, 2021

The three members of the "Dalton" group were sentenced this Friday in Lyon to a firm hold or suspended for a motorized rodeo.

Their profile, however, has nothing to do with that of highway robbers. 

The images of their rodeos in Lyon had been around social networks.

The three "Dalton" were sentenced this Friday in Lyon to prison or suspended for a motorized rodeo.

But their profile has nothing to do with that of highwaymen, even in caricature.

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Very young profiles

Two of them are 19 years old, the third 20 years old. They live with their parents. One has just obtained a CDI as a mechanic, another has been working as an interim worker, the last is looking for a job. Only one has a criminal record, for traffic offenses. “They are not major delinquents,” notes Samir Dris, one of their lawyers, calling on the court to free itself from the “effervescence” which surrounds the affair.

On October 23, the three were arrested in a shopping area in Bron, a suburb of Lyon, while they were participating in a rodeo on a motorcycle or scooter in the middle of traffic. "Monsieur le Maire, we are coming": the event was announced on the Instagram account of a group of rappers from Lyon, the "Dalton", which has been increasing the provocations since one of its members was imprisoned at the end of August, for previous rodeos.

Objective: to go back and forth in the center of Lyon by filming yourself.

Others have already done so a week earlier, at Place Bellecour, in the heart of the city.

But the prefecture, this time, mobilizes dozens of police and a helicopter to cut short the rodeo.

Out of ten participants, all dressed in the yellow and black striped outfit of Lucky Luke's enemies, three are quickly arrested and the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, welcomes this on Twitter.

The prosecution accuses them of several violations of the highway code and, for two of them, a hit and run.

One of them is also suspected of having been one of the organizers.

"Completely irresponsible" behavior

At the hearing, the prosecutor denounces a behavior "perfectly irresponsible": "we stop the traffic, we take ownership of the road, we publish the video, this behavior must stop". In court, Messim Lamloumi, 19, claims that he trains on a motorcycle every weekend on a Bron ground and that that Saturday, he was offered to put on a Dalton costume for the needs of a clip.

"But I'm not a Dalton, I have nothing to do with any of this," he said.

In police custody, he tore his outfit, "annoyed" by the outcome of the case.

At his side, Muhammed Akdag, 19, explains that he won 200 euros doing a first rodeo and that he had to earn 100 to film this one.

Videos were found on his cell phone.

In front of the judges, he justifies his zigzags between the cars during the chase with the police, which annoys the president: "you want what, that one gives you a satisfecit for good behavior?".

Postponement and closed prison

Pierre-Emmanuel Girard, the young man's lawyer, does not appreciate his attitude either, but wants to put the facts into perspective: "rodeos are nothing new. The phenomenon has been disturbing since he moved to the center -city". David Metaxas, lawyer for Jawad Chlali, 20, who also maintains that he has "nothing to do" with the Dalton, goes further by dismissing the idea of ​​a "structured" group, of which his client is a of "leaders". In this room, anyone can be a 'Dalton': you just have to put on the outfit to be cataloged, ”he said to the court, calling for clemency, like his colleagues.

Prison sentences ranging from six months with a probationary suspension to six months were pronounced against the defendants, with various obligations.