Following a refusal to comply, Romain C., a young motorist was killed in August 2018 by police shooting in Paris. Police officer Kevin G. was dismissed. Self-defense was retained by the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal.
“It took four years for this policeman, who had been forced to use his service weapon as necessary and within the framework of the law, to be freed from (this) terrible sword of Damocles“, welcomed the policeman’s lawyer, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard at the announcement of the decision of the Paris Court of Appeal, 4 years after the facts.
Romain, 26, was driving a car with faulty lighting in the center of the capital and had fled after refusing to submit to a police check. Police officer Kévin G., then 23 years old, immediately got on the back of the scooter of a passing individual and chased him, repeatedly telling him to stop before the motorist does not find itself blocked nearly 2 km further.
The policeman, weapon in hand, then ordered him to get out of the car, but the young man reversed and hit the scooter. The official fired a shot aimed at the arm, which fatally injured the motorist in the chest.
Kévin G. was indicted in the wake of intentional violence resulting in death without intention to give it by a person holding public authority, a crime punishable by fifteen years in prison.
Last March, Parisian investigating judges ordered his indictment before the Paris Assize Court, a decision which Kévin G. appealed.
On November 3, the investigating chamber of the Paris Court of Appeal overturned this decision and dismissed the case in favor of the police officer. The court held that given the attitude “dangerous” by Romain C. during the chase and at the time of the shot, Kévin G. “could reasonably believe in the existence of a danger for others, in this case the scooter operator“.
“The response by the use of a firearm, moreover in the arm of the driver, since no other means could be retained by the experts to stop the vehicle, was proportionate to the seriousness of the achievement“, ruled the magistrates, retaining self-defense.
With AFP
