Brussels police shoot driver after chase through city

Brussels police shot at a driver who committed a traffic offence in the early hours of Tuesday morning. The 29-year-old French driver died of his wounds in the hospital a couple hours later.

Olivier Slosse, a spokesperson for the Brussels police, told vrt nws that the incident was prompted by a traffic violation. “Around 05:30, a police squad began a chase over a traffic offence,” he said.

Police allegedly saw that the car with French plates had entered a road only accessible to trams. They subsequently tried to conduct a check on the vehicle on the Boulevard de Dixmude, in the area between the Brussels canal and Sainte-Catherine. “The driver didn’t stop, but sped away,” Slosse said.

When the car later began driving in the direction of police officers on the Chaussée de Ninove in Molenbeek in an apparent attempt to hit them, police shot at the car.

“The driver continued to refuse to obey the instructions of the police officers. He was driving in the direction of our colleagues and that’s when shots were fired,” Slosse said.

The driver was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but died of his wounds a couple hours later.

Photo: Belga / Nicolas Maeterlinck

Written by Linda A. Thompson