In the series of potential police blunders that have punctuated the repression of recent urban riots, one case seems very mysterious. In Mont-Saint-Martin, in Meurthe-et-Moselle, a 25-year-old man was hospitalized in absolute emergency on Friday June 30, victim of a head injury. According to the first elements, Aimène Bahouh would have received a projectile fired by the Raid, while he was driving his car. Unknown to the police, he was operated on for six hours before being placed in an artificial coma.
The young man’s family filed a complaint for “willful violence by a person holding public authority”, and an investigation was opened by the IGPN branch in Metz. According to his family, Aimène was going to “get supplies” of petrol in Luxembourg, nearby, after work, when he “received a projectile from the Raid, a ‘beanbag’ on his temple”. An unknown ammunition but already used by law enforcement.
“There is a risk of death inherent in the use of these weapons”
Close to the flashball, this hard-hitting ammunition is notably linked to the repression of demonstrations in the United States after the death of Georges Floyd, and is used in Hong Kong and Chile, as indicated Point. In France, it was used against “yellow vests” in Montpellier in 2019 and during riots in Mayotte in 2022, note the Free lunch And Le Figaro. It is an ammunition classified as “medium of intermediate forces” and non-lethal, non-armor-piercing. The principle is simple: it is a small cotton bag filled with sand or small marbles, which gives it the appearance of a “bag of beans”, placed in a cartridge to be fired.
Used as riot control ammunition to stop and control an aggressive individual, the “beanbag” is supposed to be used, according to UN recommendations, “only in direct fire with the aim of striking the lower abdomen. or the legs of a violent individual”. “There is a risk of death inherent in the use of these weapons”, explains to AFP the academic Paul Rocher, author of Gas, maim, submit. Non-lethal weapon policy. “The so-called non-lethal nature of the weapon encourages less careful and more abundant use, making this ammunition more dangerous than, for example, rubber bullets. »
According to a SFMU report dated 2014 relating to the care of people targeted by this type of fire in the emergency room, “at 10 meters, its kinetic energy would be 130 joules and its velocity 85 m/s”. “When properly deployed, and fired seven meters away, it can cause severe injury, even death,” the report said. In the event of a shot in the face, like the one that hit Aimène Bahouh, it can cause “a fracture of the skull and brain damage, eye injuries, including permanent blindness, and even death”. In the investigation to determine if the young man was identified as a dangerous rioter, far from the testimony of his relatives, or if he was the victim of “a stray bullet”, as envisaged by the prosecutor of Val-de- Briey Catherine Galen.