A city center locked down by the police for a day of high tension. This Sunday, justice organized a reconstruction of the scene of the death of Nahel, killed by the shooting of a police officer on June 27, 2023. This reconstruction, which took place peacefully, aimed to confront the protagonists in the case with their conflicting statements about the circumstances that led a police motorcyclist to shoot the 17-year-old.
According to elements of the investigation, following a chase, the Mercedes driven by Nahel was stopped by traffic. A first police version, according to which the young man drove into a police motorcyclist, was quickly refuted by a video of the scene posted on social networks.
Conflicting versions
The police maintained that they were in danger of death because they were trapped between the car and a wall. Witnesses said they heard the police threatening the teenager. The two other passengers in the car, aged 14 and 17 at the time of the incident, claimed that Nahel had been hit with a baton on the arms. The yellow car they were in at the time of the incident was transported by a tow truck on Sunday near the place where the teenager was killed, while a similar vehicle was driven to carry out the reconstruction, carried out under heavy police protection .
The two police officers who intervened during the tragedy were hooded to hide their identities. “My client is very threatened, there is no question of us seeing his face, even during proceedings,” explained the defendant’s lawyer, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard, on France Inter. In the presence of their lawyers, the police officer responsible for the shooting, the colleague who accompanied him and several witnesses were questioned on the spot by the investigating judges, keen to establish whether Brigadier Florian M., indicted for intentional homicide , was in mortal danger when the shot was fired.
“It went well,” commented Me Nabil Boudi, lawyer for Nahel’s mother, leaving the scene of the reconstruction, without making any further comments.