More than 1,600 Stib workers have signed an online petition calling on the management of the transport company to show leniency to the employee who filmed the CCTV footage showing the attempted murder that took place on Friday evening in the Brussels metro. Stib spokeswoman Françoise Ledune explained on Tuesday that the situation is being assessed and that no decision has yet been taken.
As a reminder, Benjamin P., a 23-year-old Frenchman, pushed a woman who was a priori unknown to him in the back on Friday around 7:45 p.m. She suddenly fell on the rails of Rogier station as a metro train was approaching. The driver performed an emergency brake and was able to stop before hitting her. The suspect was arrested shortly following the incident in the De Brouckère metro station. The victim suffered a shoulder injury. In the hour following the incident, a Stib worker filmed with his mobile phone the images showing the attempted murder which were shown on a dispatching monitor. The video then reached STIB employees, then journalists before being more widely shared on social networks and by the media. The dispatcher who filmed the images has been suspended since Saturday, pending the assessment of the situation by the management of Stib. He was heard on Monday, but other elements must still be analyzed to determine his share of responsibility, in particular at the legal level (Camera law, regulations on data protection and privacy, secrecy of the instruction… ).
The signatories of the petition call on the management not to be too severe and ask it, in the event that a sanction is taken once morest it, that it be proportionate. Many elements might be taken into account such as the possible presence of a person in charge in the room or the possibility of knowing if the person who filmed the video is also directly responsible for its leak on social networks.
