Hero Turned Suspect: Bystander’s Attempt to Stop Paris Cleaver Attack Leads to Arrest

"I was getting into my car when I heard a woman’s cries. I look in my rearview mirror to see what’s going on, then I get out of my car and this time I hear a man shouting: ’No, no, no!’ At that moment, I see a suspicious guy running towards the Richard-Lenoir metro, I immediately went to follow him," he tells the newspaper Le Monde.

For him, it is clear that it is an assault. "I found myself on the opposite platform, I see him on the other side. I told him: ’You, stay there!’ I acted like a cop," he laughs. The assailant takes the right platform. Youssef arrives and asks him what he did. He pulls out a box cutter blade. "He said something to me, but I didn’t understand anything. I think he didn’t speak French. He was surprisingly calm. It’s as if he was waiting calmly for the metro. He got on it without attacking anyone and left towards Bastille."

Alerted, the police arrive on the scene. The young man explains the situation to an officer. "Then I wanted to go see the victims, but a policeman told me: ’Get out of here!’ I told them I had followed the guy. They first told me to leave my phone number. Then a policeman told me to put my back against the wall, he frisked me. One of his colleagues told him to let me go, that I had done nothing."

While Youssef went to get his wallet with his ID to be able to testify, his photo was circulating. He is presented as a second suspect. Things get complicated for the young man. The agents of the Paris Police Prefecture arrest him. "They took me to the metro. They asked me to look at the cameras to take my portrait, they also took photos of me with their phones. Then they handcuffed me," he continues.

Youssef is placed in a cell in the premises of the judicial police, in the 17th arrondissement. Meanwhile, the main suspect has been arrested. The young man of Algerian origin will be released on Friday night to Saturday after being completely cleared. A senior police source says: "His account is entirely credible, he is not at all known to our services".