A 16-year-old boy who was trying to escape police control in Besançon on Sunday was seriously injured in a scooter crash that he was driving without a helmet and his life was in danger, the Besançon prosecutor said on Monday. His passenger, aged 18 and slightly injured, left the hospital Monday, said the prosecutor of the Republic of Besançon, Etienne Manteaux, at a press conference.
The driver "is mounted on a sidewalk"
The facts happened Sunday afternoon in the popular neighborhood of Planoise Besançon. Around 17:10, a patrol of the anti-crime brigade (BAC) spotted a scooter carrying "two men without a helmet" and whose "license plate was (...) concealed" by tape, told Etienne Manteaux.
The police, who were driving in an unmarked car, "turned around to make a check" but the driver "climbed onto a sidewalk and accelerated" to escape, the BAC vehicle following him, added the magistrate. According to the prosecutor, the teenager "lost control of the scooter shortly after avoiding two pedestrians" and "violently hit something hard on the head".
Committed vital prognosis
According to several witnesses, "the driver and his passenger have fallen alone", without shock with the police car, said Etienne Manteaux who invites "anyone with information useful to understand the facts to report to the judicial police of Besançon ", in charge of the investigation. Transported urgently to the University Hospital of Besançon, the young man was operated on and his life was still prognostic Monday.
"He is suffering from a very important facial trauma" and was still in a coma Monday afternoon, explained Etienne Manteaux. Sentenced for narcotics offenses, the driver had been under judicial control since June 2016, barred from appearing on the street where the accident occurred.