Jonathan S. is now certain. “If there were no videos, for me, it was screwed: it was the immediate appearance then the district of the arrivals in prison”, estimates this truck driver, now 40 years old. On May 30, 2019, in Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis), police stormed the street where he owned a barber shop. Officials pat down and check the identities of several people playing sports on the sidewalk. A few minutes later, Jonathan S. and Louqmane T., a 19-year-old young man, were handcuffed and taken to the police station where they were taken into custody.
Their arrest was stormy, write in their report the agents of the CSI 93 who lodge a complaint against them for contempt, rebellion and violence against a person in charge of authority. The latter ignore it, but surveillance cameras captured the whole scene. And the exploitation of the images, within the framework of an investigation carried out by the IGPN – the police force -, revealed a succession of blunders committed by the police officers present during the operation.
“Thug” behavior
Four years after the events, two brigadiers and two peacekeepers from the CSI 93, aged 35 to 43, appeared this Thursday before the 14th correctional chamber of the Bobigny judicial court. Riahd B., Loic P., Olivier D. and Yohann P. are tried for possession of drugs, theft, forgery in writing by a person holding public authority, and violence.
“We do not need a police force that functions as these four officials have functioned for months”, underlines the deputy prosecutor of Bobigny, Loïc Pageot, who requires sentences ranging from six months suspended to two years in prison, including one year suspended sentence. That day, the defendants “behaved like thugs” and “tarnished the image of this institution”, deplores the representative of the public prosecutor’s office. The court’s decision was reserved for June 15.
At the hearing, the police say that they were on a mission in the city of Emile Cordon, a center of drug trafficking in the city. Their arrival is announced to dealers and consumers by the cries of lookouts. “There was a radio message announcing that individuals were running towards rue Claude Monet,” said Yohann P., a navy blue and white sweater, thin beard, at the helm. In the mouths of the defendants, anyone who is not from the police is an “individual” and represents a potential danger for them.
“I wanted to unblock a situation that was blocked”
“We know from our experience that people will take refuge in the shops around the city,” he continues. “They pretend to have been there for some time,” adds his former colleague Loïc P., graying hair, blue shirt and black pants. The police then focus on a small group of “individuals”. The tension, they say, is going up a notch. “Our presence is not welcome,” adds Riahd B., who was the head of the Alpha 2 unit.
The president, Dominique Pittilloni, notes however, while watching the videos projected in the courtroom, that the street looks “calm” and that we “do not see anyone running”. Jonathan S. is sitting and listening to music. He does not understand the presence of the police and asks them the reason for this identity check. Riahd B. then throws at his feet a white bag which, according to the civil party, contained pouches of herbal cannabis. “I wanted to unblock a situation that was blocked”, proclaims the forties, shaved head and brown leather jacket. But, he swears, this bag did not contain drugs. “I took it out and said to him: what is it? It was to tell him that something interested me behind him. “I don’t see how that was going to calm him down,” replied one of the assessors, who wondered if Riahd B. was not simply trying to justify this identity check, which was cavalier to say the least.
“I had no bad intentions,” dares the defendant. And the latter to add: “I have nothing against them, I do not know them. Why would I go lay a bag of narcotics at their feet? It is not in my habits to act like this. »
Suddenly, the chief brigadier grabs Jonathan S. by the ankles to make him fall to the ground in order to challenge him. In police jargon, this technique is called a “Chicago”. “We learn it at the police academy”, indicates the former officer, converted since the facts into a stretcher-bearer. The victim receives several blows and is the subject of a strangulation attempt. He will end up with ten days of total incapacity for work (ITT). “I had no choice,” says Riahd B. “From the moment he resists during the entire check with his arms…”
A broken phone
Witness to the scene, Louqmane T. takes out his phone and starts filming the officials. Nothing prohibits reminds the prosecutor. But when he sees it, Loïc P.’s blood boils. The policeman walks up to the young man, snatches the device from his hands and puts it in his pocket. “I am on this intervention and I do not know what he filmed, he justifies himself. For my safety and that of my family, I do not wish to be recognized on social networks. »
The phone will never be found. Loïc P. then tries to arrest the victim who, he says, was trying to “oppose the arrest” of Jonathan S.. “On the videos, we don’t see him physically intervening”, notes the president. “I did not say that he physically intervened, I said that he was virulent, answers the former civil servant who now works in the construction industry. “He didn’t speak to us properly, the violence isn’t just physical…”
“At no time did I object to the control. I just wanted to get my phone back, ”says the young man at the bar. Riahd B. gets up, pushes him and punches him. “I felt he wanted to fight it out,” argues the former cop. “When I see a colleague in difficulty, as a boss I react, even if it means doing anything”, he declares with confidence to justify this “legitimate violence”.
“If it weren’t for this video, we wouldn’t be here”
On their report, the police try to justify the identity check and the resulting arrests. “It’s not the best report of my life”, recognizes Loïc P., who spent 13 years in the sulphurous CSI 93, a unit with controversial methods targeted by around fifteen investigations since 2019. His trial- verbal is written at the Saint-Ouen police station, on a desk located near the toilets and the coffee machine. There is “passage”, and the policeman is still under “adrenaline” after a “stressful” operation. He forgets to mention the time of the arrest, the confiscated telephone or the throwing of the plastic bag by his colleague. “The errors, the inaccuracies in this report go in one direction, towards the accusation” of the two civil parties, notes the deputy prosecutor.
Throughout the hearing, the defendants constantly claim that their intervention was “square”. “The identity check is completely validated,” even believes Loïc P. “If he [Jonathan S.] had let himself be controlled, we would not be there today, ”adds Riahd B.. Me Raphaëlle Guy, the lawyer for the two civil parties, takes it up. “If it weren’t for this video, we wouldn’t be here today.”