Three days after shooting and killing a motorist on Wednesday September 7 in Nice, after refusing to comply, a police officer was indicted for ” willful violence “. This is the ninth incident of this kind in France in 2022, a record that illustrates an upward trend for five years. This after the adoption of a law in 2017 modifying the conditions of the self-defense of the police.
In Nice, on September 7, then in Rennes the same day, two people died following refusal to comply: with nine deaths in similar conditions2022 already marks a sad record.
A proof of the trend, clearly on the rise in recent years. According to the Ministry of the Interior, this is due to a increase in refusals to comply : there are more than 26,000
While each case has its particularities, a breaking point was observed in 2017. On February 28 of that year, a law extending the right of police officers to fire, particularly on fleeing vehicles, when they believe that the passengers may take their own life or that of the public.
Since its adoption, there have been 31 similar cases. That’s nearly double that of the previous fifteen years.
In the case of Nice, the police officer who fired the shots was indicted for ” willful violence “.
At the center of the debates is now the question of self-defence. For example, it had not been retained after the death of two men in Paris last April. A decision then deemed inadmissible by the police unions who claim a presumption of self-defense.
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