The video, lasting about forty seconds, went around social networks, and the case took on a national dimension. It shows two police officers taking aim, Tuesday morning, the driver of a yellow Mercedes AMG who committed several traffic offenses in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). Suddenly, one of them opened fire at point-blank range on the motorist, who had just rushed off again. The car ends its race a few tens of meters further, embedded in a post. Despite the intervention of the Samu, the victim, Nahel, 17, died shortly afterwards.
An investigation has been opened for refusal to comply and attempted intentional homicide of a person holding public authority. Another investigation, opened for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority, was entrusted to the IGPN, the police force. The 38-year-old policeman suspected of the fatal shooting of the teenager was taken into custody for intentional homicide.
25,822 refusals to comply in 2022
Filmed by a witness, the video seems at first glance overwhelming for the police. And its wide distribution has forced members of the government to leave their usual cautious reserve on this type of business, arousing the ire of police unions. “We have all seen these extremely shocking images,” the interior minister said. Administrative sanctions may be taken against the police officer who fired the shot, “if it is proven, as the images clearly show, that this gesture is not absolutely in accordance with the instructions and the law of the Republic” , added Gérald Darmanin.
The president for his part denounced an “inexplicable” and “inexcusable” drama. And the Prime Minister believes that these “shocking images” show “an intervention which clearly does not comply with the rules of engagement of our police forces”.
In 2022, police and gendarmes were faced with refusals to comply every 23 minutes, and many of them were injured during the intervention. There were 25,822 situations of this type last year, compared to 27,700 in 2021. Also in 2022, 13 people died after trying to evade road checks. It’s a record. Five police officers have been indicted in these cases, the others having been released without prosecution at this stage.
Last January, the LFI deputies pleaded for the creation of a parliamentary commission of inquiry on “the conditions of intervention” of the police. Because it is necessary, according to these parliamentarians, to “review” the intervention techniques of the police. And, for this, evaluate the law of February 2017, which modified the rules for the use of their service weapon by the police.
“There is no disinhibition of police shootings”
Before, the police officer was subject, like any citizen, to the regime of self-defense defined by the Penal Code: he could only respond “simultaneously and proportionately” to a “current and real” attack against him or others. Since then, article 435-1 paragraph 4 of the internal security code allows him to shoot the occupants of a vehicle “likely to perpetrate, in their flight, attacks on their life or their physical integrity or those of ‘other’. Either because he has information on their dangerousness before shooting, or because people are in the direction of flight from the vehicle in question.
However, “the number of uses of the weapon by the police has decreased over the last five years, contrary to what is said in the media”, affirms to 20 minutes Commissioner Sonia Fibleuil, spokesperson for the national police. “There is no disinhibition of police shooting at all”. While the number of refusals to comply has increased by nearly 50% in ten years, police officers are trained, when they enter school, to deal with this type of complex situation. “They have theoretical courses on traffic offences, and in particular on refusals to comply, and others on the use of weapons”, explains Sonia Fibleuil.
Apprentice agents also take part in roadside check simulations, “to learn how to position themselves around a vehicle”. They also learn to use their weapon by simulating a situation where “one vehicle agrees to stop and another refuses”. Police officers then receive regular booster shots throughout their careers as part of ongoing training.
“Scenarios” in the Gendarmerie School
The student gendarmes, whose competence extends over 85% of the road network, receive “training in the use of the weapon and training in professional intervention”, indicates the spokesperson of the gendarmerie, squadron leader Nassima Djebli. They take part in “simulations” and learn at school “the legal framework, which is very strict”. Then, as part of continuous training, “the gendarmes have reminders from trainers, who intervene within the units. They must validate legal modules every year,” she continues.
The apprentice gendarmes also learn that the use of the weapon must be “necessary and proportional”. Before attempting to challenge the author of a refusal to comply, the soldiers, who must “show composure”, must ask themselves three questions. “Am I safe? Is my action likely to harm the safety of my colleague or a bystander? And is there a notion of urgency? “You have to have that in mind before moving towards immediate interception or delayed interception,” insists Nassima Djebli.