Changing testimonies. Gérald Darmanin indicated this Friday that the three police officers accused of having hit a scooter with their car last week in Paris, injuring three minors, one of whom with a vital prognosis, recognized “gestures which are not appropriate” and were suspended. A source close to the case has just indicated that they had been taken into custody. “I understand that the testimony of the police officers of the first day is not that of today and that they recognize gestures which are not appropriate”, declared the Minister of the Interior on France Info.
On April 13 shortly before midnight, in the 20th arrondissement, a scooter ridden by three minors, aged 17, 14 and 13, one of whom was not wearing a helmet, was chased by a police car and fell. The driver, a 17-year-old girl, was hospitalized and her vital prognosis was still engaged on Thursday. His 13-year-old brother was injured in the liver and another passenger, aged 14, was hit in the knee, said Thursday the lawyer for the two families, Arié Alimi, who filed a complaint for attempted murder by a person responsible for the public authority, with weapon by destination, on minors.
“An intervention that does not comply with what the law and ethics allow”
“I asked the prefect of police to suspend (…) those who would be responsible, in particular a driver and other police officers, for this situation”, added Gérald Darmanin. “The testimonies here and there” seem to indicate “an intervention that is not in accordance with what the law and ethics allow”, he continued. “The prefect of police signed the request for suspension (presented by the minister) for the three officials,” the police headquarters confirmed to AFP. These suspensions are therefore effective.
The Paris prosecutor’s office entrusted the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) with an investigation into the conditions in which the scooter fell and opened another investigation into the driver’s refusal to comply. The police “wanted to check” the scooter but “the driver refused to stop” and “took a street in the opposite direction before losing control in circumstances that remain to be established” of his two-wheeler, had indicated Tuesday the police headquarters.
But according to a 37-year-old woman, presenting herself as a witness to the facts, the police vehicle hit the two-wheeler. “We don’t want to wage war on the police, we just want to know the truth,” commented the older sister of the driver and her injured younger brother on Thursday.