Jean-Luc Boujon, edited by Loane Nader // photo credit: JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP
Last weekend, violent storms and floods disrupted the daily life of the inhabitants of Lyon. In the suburbs, in Bron, two municipal police officers rescued a mother and her two children, trapped in their car because of the rising waters. One of the two agents recounts the event at the microphone of Europe 1.
Temperatures have been rising sharply for more than a week, but this is accompanied by sometimes violent weather phenomena, particularly in the southern part of France. This is the case in Lyon, where thunderstorms sounded last weekend. Major floods have also disrupted the region, such as in Bron, in the Lyon suburbs, where a woman and her two children found themselves trapped in their car. The vehicle broke down, resulting in the engine drowning as the water rose inexorably.
Photo credit: Jean-Luc Boujon / Europe 1
Luckily, the family was rescued by two municipal police officers who were on patrol at the time. Maxime, one of these two agents, testified to the incident at the microphone of Europe 1. “There was a lot of water falling. We saw a vehicle in the hopper and at the same time, we saw a lady who was in a panic. Without thinking, we immediately rushed to her rescue. In this case, I went into the water, immediately dive and see what was happening, “explains the policeman, before mentioning the victims. “There were two children in that vehicle, five and seven years old. They had water about up to their chins. It was really urgent.”
1m80 deep
It was then imperative to react as quickly as possible, given the height of the water in which they found themselves. “At the deepest, the water was 1.80m. I dived directly into the water and asked the lady what was going on, if it was her children and she confirmed it to me,” adds then Maxim. “I immediately took the first child who was in front of me. I brought him behind, in a safe position at my colleague’s house and then I went to fetch the second child underwater.”
“It’s not the time to panic, it’s not the time to stress”, supports the policeman. “We have to go there, we have to provide assistance. It’s our job as police officers, simply.” Calling himself a hero is therefore not justified for the latter, whose courage is still remarkable. “I’m not a hero. You know, there are a lot of police officers who do the same job as us every day, it’s daily, so we’re not heroes. We’re not here just for the repression. We are here to help everyone, anyone.”
This day thus ended with more fear than harm for this Brondillante family. “The children, we reassured them in the service vehicle. They wanted to put on the ‘pin-pon’, as they said. We put the ‘pin-pon’ on them to reassure them and then we gave them to the parents. And that’s it, everything went well”, concludes the gendarme at the microphone of Europe 1.
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