A 49-year-old man from Brussels has been sentenced to fifteen months in prison for resisting arrest and assaulting police officers.
The incident occurred around 20:30 on 29 December 2023, when Securail requested assistance from the local police in Bruges due to issues with a passenger travelling without a valid train ticket.
The man, from the municipality of Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, was subsequently arrested by police. However, during the arrest, the man became verbally aggressive towards the police, was pushed against a glass wall.
While resisting arrest, he tried to grab the officers' weapons and also struck a female officer in the face during the struggle.
Securail described the man as weighing 200 kilograms, and two pairs of handcuffs were needed to finally arrest him.
During questioning, the defendant claimed he was not being aggressive but was trying to free himself because he could not breathe. He denied attempting to grab the officers’ weapons.
The judge sentenced the man to fifteen months in prison, an €800 fine, and ordered him to pay €2,240 in damages to the officers.
The court noted that he had a lengthy criminal record with 25 prior convictions for assault, drugs, theft, resisting arrest, and verbal abuse.
