Two brothers, aged 19 and 29, were sentenced on Monday for assaulting, insulting and even threatening to kill three firefighters on Friday evening in Uxem, near Dunkirk (59). Officers from SDIS 59 were called to assist the younger brother, who had been involved in a road traffic accident.
On arrival at the scene, the crew attended to the driver, Adrien B., who was completely drunk. To assess his condition, a firefighter asked about the circumstances of the accident. In response, he was struck hard in the jaw with a fist.
A few minutes later, his brother, 29-year-old Anthony, arrived on the scene, accompanied by their father. Without realising what was happening, he punched and kicked the firefighters several times.
“I’m going to kill you; we’ll meet again.”
According to our colleagues at La Voix du Nord, the father tries to calm his two sons down, but the two young men start hurling abuse at the firefighters. Then come the death threats. “I’m going to kill you; we’ll meet again. I’m going to kill your family and all your colleagues,” insists Adrien.
According to the same source, Anthony became increasingly aggressive. “I was also quite drunk. I saw an altercation and wanted to defend my brother. I didn’t even realise they were firefighters,” he told the court. “It’s rubbish, it’s pathetic. They’re there to help us,” Anthony said, trying to make amends. “I was worried about my driving licence because I’d been drink-driving. I didn’t want the police to turn up. Then I lost control,” explains Adrien. The police arrived after the two brothers had fled the scene. They were quickly tracked down and arrested.
Released from prison two days earlier
In the dock, the two brothers, heads bowed, avoid making eye contact with the firefighters, who have turned out in large numbers at the court to support their three injured colleagues and demand exemplary sentences. “Attacks are on the rise. It’s unbearable. In the space of a month, there have been six attacks on our unit,” said one of them. Adrien Baron, whose criminal record contains only a single entry for violence committed whilst he was a minor, was sentenced to one year in prison, half of which was to be served without parole. He walked free.
Anthony Baron, who had been released from prison two days before the offences took place and had previously been convicted of violence and repeated drink-driving offences, received a harsher sentence. The court sentenced him to one year in prison and a further four months following the revocation of a previous suspended sentence. He has been remanded in custody.