Two open investigations, the IGPN – general inspection of the national police – seizure and videos that question. In Nice, the day after the death of the driver of a stolen car, killed by the shooting of a policeman after a chase and a refusal to comply, the agent in question is now in police custody for “homicide involuntary”. And some comments question the thesis of self-defense. “In a case like this, it is the whole of the action which must be analyzed”, advances for his part the director general of the national police who refers to a “difficult, complex” investigation.
What happened ?
Wednesday around 4:30 p.m., a man – who was driving without a license in a stolen car, according to the police – died after being shot by an agent of a road safety brigade. “The vehicle was chased” because it “took a lot of risks” on the Mathis lane, a fast axis which crosses Nice from east to west, said the assistant to the public prosecutor of Nice Maud Marty. But instead of following the police, the driver sped up. Arrived in avenue Henri-Matisse, near the airport, the driver “turned around to come and hit the police car apparently on two occasions”, she also specified. One of the officers, aged 23, descended on the road, then fired “once”, hitting the driver. Supported by firefighters, the man, “a Tunisian in his thirties, settled in the region for a year”, according to the first deputy mayor of Nice Anthony Borré, died despite attempts at resuscitation. Unharmed, the passenger in the car was taken into custody.
Two open investigations
The representative of the Nice prosecutor’s office announced that two investigations had been opened. The first was entrusted to the Departmental Security for “attempted homicide of a person holding public authority”. For the second, the general inspectorate of the national police was seized. It targets the police officer responsible for the fatal shooting for “manslaughter”. The latter was placed in police custody on Thursday evening, for twenty-four hours, renewable once, confirmed to 20 minutes Nice public prosecutor Xavier Bonhomme. Asked about the possibility that the videos of the intervention broadcast on social networks could have been decisive in deciding on this measure, the magistrate replied in the negative. Police custody, “it’s almost the rule” in this kind of business, he said.
What do these videos show?
Two sequences in particular published on Twitter show the scene seen from different angles. Often shared with comments questioning self-defense, they show the vehicle, blocked by a police car in front, reversing before stopping and being blocked again by the police car at the front. One of the two officers present, out on the road, appears pointing his weapon at the driver’s side window. “Get out of the vehicle, get out, get out, get out of the vehicle,” he shouts in the direction of the car before firing once. The passenger immediately leaves with his hands in the air before being arrested by the other policeman. “When the unions say self-defense, reality says summary execution”, reacted on Twitter the lawyer Arié Alimi, member of the League of Human Rights. Asked about these videos on Thursday morning on France Info, the director general of the national police, Frédéric Veaux, refers to the “difficult, complex” investigation which has been opened. “In a case like this, it is the whole action that must be analyzed. What happened before, in the environment. The perception that the police may have had at the time of the intervention, ”he also said.