A 17-year-old driver was shot and killed after refusing to comply on Tuesday, June 27 in Nanterre, in the suburbs of Paris. A police officer suspected of having killed the young motorist has been taken into custody for intentional homicide, the prosecution said in a press release.
The facts took place this Tuesday morning around 8:30 a.m. near the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station, behind the La Défense business district, near Paris. Two police officers check a vehicle, driven by the 17-year-old young man. In the images that are already circulating widely on social networks, we see one of the police officers pointing his pistol at the driver. As the motorist drives off again, the policeman shoots him in the chest. About sixty meters further, the car ends its race in a post. Despite the intervention of the Samu, the driver died shortly afterwards.
Two ongoing investigations
According to police sources, the victim was known to the justice services for having committed several traffic offenses, according to the first elements of the investigation reported by police sources. As for the other two passengers in the vehicle, one fled, the second, also a minor, was taken into custody. The latter was lifted at the start of the afternoon, the prosecution said.
At first, police sources claimed that the vehicle ran into law enforcement, but a video posted on Twitter showing the police check and the shooting of a police officer cast doubt on the initial version given by law enforcement.
Two investigations are currently open. One was entrusted to the Nanterre police station for refusing to comply and attempted intentional homicide of a person holding public authority. The other is led by the IGPN, the police force, for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority. The police officer is currently in custody for intentional homicide, we learned from the Nanterre prosecutor’s office.
A complaint for intentional homicide
” In the next few days, we will be filing a complaint for intentional homicide against the police officer who fired (…). The complaint will also target his colleague for complicity in intentional homicide “, announced the family lawyer, Me Yassine Bouzrou, in a press release. ” A second complaint for forgery in public writing will be filed against the police who claimed that the young man had attempted to commit homicide on their person by trying to hit them, which is formally denied by viewing the video. “, he also wrote.
About forty people briefly gathered in the early afternoon near the scene of the tragedy, tears in their eyes, to share their “anger”. The mayor (DVG) of Nanterre, Patrick Jarry, said to himself ” shocked by the video of the drama.
The death of this young man in a police check was pointed out this afternoon to the National Assembly by the ecologist deputy of the constituency where the tragedy happened, Sabrina Sebaihi.
What is happening this morning is dramatic. Usually, there are few event videos. There in this case, there is a video which shows the facts as they happened this morning. Right when the youngster starts, they shoot immediately. There were no police in front of the vehicle, they were on the side, they were not risking their lives immediately and therefore we consider that yes, there was a disproportionate use of force. Refusal to comply is not a death sentence and in this case, this is what we have been seeing for several months now, 13 deaths in 2022 is 13 deaths too many. From the moment there are deaths and it does not work visibly, it is that the doctrine is not the right one.
“What is happening this morning is dramatic.”, Sabrina Sebaihi, MP (EELV)
“What is happening this morning is dramatic.”, Sabrina Sebaihi, MP (EELV)
At the National Assembly, Gérald Darmanin spoke of “ extremely shocking images » by calling « respect the bereavement of families and the presumption of innocence of police officers “. The 38-year-old policeman who fired the shot is ” very shocked “By the drama, said the prefect of police Laurent Nuñez on BFMTV.
Since the law of 2017, I had the opportunity to say, in many, many exchanges here, that there have been fewer shootings, there have been fewer fatalities than before 2017. I’m sorry to tell Madame that in very many cases, unfortunately, police and gendarmes have died from refusing to comply. Of course, the refusal to comply cannot be accepted, but it is obviously also not capable of accepting that police officers shoot at you on young men or young women and tell you that we must respect the bereavement of families, but the presumption of innocence of police officers.
Gérald Darmanin, “We must respect the bereavement of families but the presumption of innocence of the police”
According to a police source, the officers involved are members of the Territorial Traffic and Road Safety Company of Department 92.
In 2022, 13 deaths were recorded after refusals to comply during roadside checks, a record. Five police officers have been indicted in these cases, the others having been released without prosecution at this stage.
(With AFP)