“Trou du c…”: he insults a police officer in Monaco and takes a reprieve
“I don’t give a fuck… You act crazy in uniform… Asshole…” These are the non-exhaustive remarks of insults and other insanity uttered in a few minutes by a man and immediately recalled at the hearing by the president of the criminal court Jérôme Fougeras Lavergnolle (assessors: Florestan Bellinzona and Ludovic Leclerc., editor’s note) .
No precedent and no trace of alcohol
It was July 28, 2021, around 6:30 a.m., at avenue de la Costa. With the return of the wearing of the compulsory mask outdoors, to deal with the spread of the Covid virus, a police officer asked an early morning passer-by to put his mask back on his nose. The individual did not listen to him and the situation degenerated.
There followed a litany of insults, threats, invectives, outrages, recalled by the magistrate. “The defendant, without address or known residence, did not respond to the summons. He was not the subject of any precedent and he was not drunk. The investigation took statements and cameras filmed the arrest. For the record, this 29-year-old man had the sum of 15,000 euros in cash in his pockets. The money had been given to him by his father. This night professional denied being the cause of the altercation.”
Then the officer intervened to give his version of the facts on what he defined as an assault. He wanted to make the case total transparency in order to oust the belief in conspiracy theories argued by his attacker.
“He disrespected me, I did the same”
“The pedestrian was looking for a fight, he testified at the bar. He addressed me familiarly and showed his contempt by looking me over from head to toe with a superior air. As he disrespected me, I did the same.”
His counsel, Me Christophe Sosso, will in turn draw attention to this case of insolence with a character with excessive behavior. “All this for the wearing of the mask, the lawyer was indignant. It is terrible, irritating, unbearable that residents of the Principality do not respect those who allow them to evolve in a secure country. It is inadmissible to smear those who carry out their mission as police officers. Strike hard: condemn this abuse to the tune of 1,000 euros.”
The prosecution was also annoyed. “The security system in Monaco deploys a presence coupled with a quality of calm and tranquility to ensure our protection. It is not only to authority or to the uniform that we have lacked respect, again underlined the first substitute Valérie Sagné. There is also the man. The defendant’s omnipotence even extended to the police station. Living together is an obligation for everyone! A 45-day suspended sentence should land him in jail if he does it again.”
After having deliberated, the court was more lenient than the public prosecutor in its requisitions: one month suspended prison sentence and the payment of 500 euros in damages to the civil party.