"I sate it loud and clear: France killed my husband." At the tribute paid to her late husband in Mandelieu-la-Napoule in southern France, amid strangled sobs, Harmonie Comyn denounced the "inadequacy," "laxity" and "excessive tolerance" that she believes are responsible for his death. Warrant Officer Éric Comyn, 54, was killed after a driver refused to stop for a police check on Monday, August 26, during a traffic stop on the A8 freeway.
Harmonie Comyn is outraged about the profile of the hit-and-run driver. The 39-year-old suspect was arrested by the police on Wednesday afternoon and later charged and held in custody in the evening for "refusal to obey orders" and "murder of a public official," which is a crime punishable by life imprisonment. According to the prosecutor, the suspect already had 10 prior convictions. A source in the interior ministry said he had been known to the police since 2006 for violent offenses, refusing to stop for a police officer followed by a hit-and-run in 2012, driving without a license in 2014 and drunk driving in 2023.
He once again tested positive for alcohol a few hours after killing Eric Comyn. "Why is this multi-recidivist man allowed to move freely? How many deaths before these murderers are truly punished?" asked Comyn's widow and a mother of two.
The day after the gendarme's death, resigning Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin mentioned the statistics regarding refusals to comply: "This happens a lot, on average 25,000 times a year," he said. The ministry's statistical service for domestic security (SSMSI) published a report in April detailing their frequency over the past eight years. "The number of roadside refusals to obey recorded increased between 2016 and 2021 by 12% (...), before decreasing from 2021 to 2023 by 15%," to fall to 23,100.
The number of refusals to comply endangering others followed a similar pattern: 3,800 in 2016, 5,500 in 2021, and 4,400 in 2023, according to SSMSI. "Today, the most dangerous job we can do is to check vehicles," said Grégory Joron, the general secretary of Un1té, formerly Unité-SGP Police-FO. In 2023, 500 refusals to comply seriously endangered law enforcement officers wishing to carry out an inspection.
The day after officer Comyn's death, Eric Ciotti, the contested president of the conservative Les Républicains party, announced that he was introducing a bill to toughen punishment for refusal to comply, a position shared by his allies of the far-right Rassemblement National party. His proposals include increasing the prison sentence from two to three years and doubling the fine to €30,000. However, "we've already toughened up the laws, and that hasn't had any magical effect," according to Joron.
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