Nice attack: Heroic bystander hurled himself into truck cab to stop killer

Armed police surrounded the lorry after it finally came to a stop
Hatty Collier16 July 2016
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A heroic bystander hurled himself into the truck driven by a terrorist as he ploughed through crowds on a murderous rampage in Nice.

At least 84 people, including around a dozen children, died when Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel drove the truck through crowds celebrating Bastille Day in the coastal city.

When the 20 tonne truck was held up by an obstruction, the member of the public leapt onto the vehicle, wrestled the 31-year-old attacker and tried to seize his revolver.

He had driven the lorry for more than a mile along the Promenade des Anglais as people headed home after a fireworks display to mark the French national holiday, leaving scenes of carnage in his wake.

Police sources in Nice confirmed that the driver could have continued ploughing through the crowds for even longer if it had not been for the courageous actions of the member of the public.

Bouhlel fired several shots at the man and at police at the scene before he was shot dead by two officers.

The man and the police officers were not injured.

Eyewitness Eric Ciotti told radio station Europe 1 that as people tried to flee from the truck, which zigzagged its way through the crowds in an effort to kill as many as possible, someone jumped in and was able to help the police bring the vehicle to a halt.

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He said: "It's at that moment that the police were able to neutralise this terrorist.

"I won't forget the look of this policewoman who intercepted the killer.

"A person jumped on to the truck to try to stop it.”

The deaths have rocked a nation still dealing with the aftermath of the attacks in November in Paris that killed 130 and in January 2015 that killed 17.

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