He had died at the age of 22, in Villiers-le-Bel, in a motorcycle accident near the city of Bleuets, near a police checkpoint. More than three years after the death of Ibrahima Bah, the three police officers present on the scene aboard a van who may have played a role in the accident have been placed under the status of assisted witness, by the investigating judge de Pontoise in charge of the file.
The latter considered that at this stage he did not have serious and consistent evidence to indict the 26-year-old driver of the van, his skipper and a colleague who was in the back of the vehicle, in the framework of the judicial investigation opened for manslaughter. In the current state of the case, the police would not be judged.
The young man hits a pole
The accident happened on Sunday, October 6, 2019 around 5 p.m. The young man had entered the handlebars of his blue cross bike in rue Faidherbe, in Villiers-le-Bel. Further on, at the crossroads of Boulevard Salvador-Allende and Allée des Bleuets, three police vehicles complete an intervention for a refusal to comply. When the helmeted young man, who was driving at 50 km/h according to the expert’s report, arrived, a police van moved to his right to leave the scene of the intervention. The young Sarcellois took to the sidewalk to avoid the van. He succeeds but violently hits a post. Despite a cardiac massage from the police, he died 1h30 later in the hospital.
A year after the tragedy, around 250 relatives of Ibo, his nickname, marched through the streets of Sarcelles to demand the viewing of the videos. These would not have recorded the sequence of a few seconds showing the course of events. Relatives suspect the police vehicle of having deliberately blocked the road to the oncoming motorbike and of not having given it the necessary space to pass.
Charges disputed by the council of three police officers, Me Louis Caillez. “My clients absolutely did not want to stand in the way of Mr. Ibrahima Bah,” he told AFP. For him, the police officers did not make a fault of conduct causing the accident, either directly or indirectly. “The accident resulted from a loss of individual control of his motorcycle. »
“Insufficient progress”
For the two family lawyers, the feeling is “mixed” following the decision of the investigating judge. “This is a step forward in this case. The judicial investigation had been delayed. We have the feeling of having been heard by the examining magistrate. But this is insufficient progress, ”reacts Me Vincent Brengarth. “We have pointed out inconsistencies in the declarations of the police officers. They were not fully taken into account, they should have led to their indictment, he continues. This concerns in particular the trajectory of the van which was decisive in the accident. For us, there was clearly a desire on the part of the police to intercept. »
The objective of the family councils is now to convince the investigating magistrate to proceed with the indictment of the police officers so that they are judged. “We are going to request a reconstitution for this in the coming weeks”, announces Me Vincent Brengarth.
