The national tribute to Éric Comyn, a police officer killed while refusing to comply a week earlier, took place in Nice on Monday, September 2.
“A huge anger”. Gérald Darmanin spoke on Monday, September 2, during the national tribute ceremony for Éric Comyn, a police officer killed during a refusal to comply in Mougins. The minister returned to the immense emotion that the death of the soldier aroused.
“The death of Eric Comyn is unacceptable. It revolts us and drags us into the abyss with him,” declared the resigning Minister of the Interior, who presided over the ceremony in Nice.
“We need to put things into words. French people; this is not a refusal to comply, it is a crime,” he added.
“In his life as a police officer, Éric Comyn saved thousands of lives. First as a mobile police officer (…) then as a local brigade police officer,” he stressed.
Many personalities are present in Nice, including the mayor Christian Estrosi, the deputy Éric Ciotti, as well as the director general of the national gendarmerie Christian Rodriguez.
This tribute ceremony has a national resonance, since each prefecture, police station and gendarmerie brigade are invited this Monday to observe a minute of silence to pay tribute to Éric Comyn.
Suspect placed in pre-trial detention
The death of Warrant Officer Éric Comyn had sparked a lot of emotion in the Alpes-Maritimes and the rest of France. He was violently hit by a car on Monday 26 August in Mougins, when the driver of the vehicle refused to submit to a road check.
Several tributes were held in Cannes and Mandelieu-la-Napoule, where the police officer’s wife spoke out and declared during her speech, “France killed my husband”. A strong phrase, to denounce the lack of significant sanctions for repeat offenders in France.
In fact, the suspect had already been convicted of ten other traffic offences before hitting Éric Comyn. He was arrested in Cannes the day after the incident, in front of the police station. He also tested positive for alcohol and had 1.09 grams of alcohol per litre of blood at the time of his arrest. The driver was charged and placed in pre-trial detention on Wednesday 28 August.
At the end of the ceremony on Monday, the coffin will be transported for a more intimate ceremony with the family and loved ones of Eric Comyn.
