Merville municipal police Tom and Jerry cartoon contempt case Toulouse court, Digi Mart USA News (Merville, Haute-Garonne, France): The municipal police force of the small commune of Merville in Haute-Garonne apparently does not appreciate caricatures, even naive and childlike ones. A local resident has learned this firsthand: he is being sent to criminal court on charges of insulting a person holding public authority, over a 1975 drawing taken from the Tom and Jerry cartoon.
The dispute began on July 29, 2025, around 7:30 p.m. in Merville.
Renaud, a local transporter whose name has been changed, was accompanying a homeless man to get a meal and a hotel room. A municipal police patrol, made up of one man and one woman, approached the situation and asked whether Renaud was taking advantage of the man’s vulnerability.
Renaud became angry, arguing that he was simply trying to help. The officer told him to lower his tone, warning that noise could constitute an offense.
Officers who had previously cited him for traffic violations said he harassed local shopkeepers, while Renaud said the patrol was harassing him and that he was the only one receiving fines.
The following day, Renaud sent an email to the town hall and the municipal police. His account was meant to be ironic and, at first glance, contained no insult.
However, to illustrate his point he attached an image from the 1975 cartoon Tom and Jerry Show: The Police Kitten, showing Tom in a police cap and a white female cat in a police uniform. The two officers felt the image disparaged them and filed a complaint.
Renaud was taken into custody and questioned about the reference. According to the account given in the publisher’s report, a municipal officer told him he should consider himself a mouse because he now had four cats behind him.
The Toulouse public prosecutor’s office has decided to prosecute Renaud. Represented by lawyer Nicolas Raynaud de Lage, he is scheduled to appear before the Toulouse Judicial Court on Friday, November 13, 2026.
The case was reported by the publisher and has not been independently verified.
