Multiple incidents erupted overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday, after the death of a teenager, killed by a police officer who used his weapon, after a suspicion of refusal to comply with the minor. The drama, filmed, ignited the city.
By The editorial staff with AFP – 08:00 | updated at 08:31
At least 24 people arrested according to the police headquarters, the CRS 8 brigade specializing in urban violence deployed this Wednesday… The city of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine) lived a night under tension after the tragedy that occurred on Tuesday morning: a 17-year-old motorist, Naël, was killed by a police officer who used his weapon, after a suspicion of refusal to comply by the minor. This Wednesday morning, however, calm seemed to have returned.
The victim died shortly after the use of the weapon, despite the intervention of the Samu. Two other people were in the vehicle: one of them fled while the other was arrested. The facts took place around 8:30 a.m. near the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station, near Nelson-Mandela Square, behind the La Défense business district.
Since then, police and young people have clashed in several neighborhoods, as well as in the city of Mantes-la-Jolie, where a neighborhood town hall was burned down.
During the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, several fires were lit along the rails of the RER A between Nanterre and Rueil-Malmaison, a car was set on fire, as well as garbage cans, and bus shelters were destroyed. Protesters were setting up barricades around 10:30 p.m. Shortly before 9 p.m., around thirty people gathered in front of a police station, chanting “the police mutilate, the police murder”. Mortar fire rang out part of the night in Nanterre, Clichy-sous-Bois, Asnières, Colombes…
The policeman in custody
Naël’s family lawyer filed a complaint. A complaint will be filed for intentional homicide and another for forgery in public writing, because “the police lied by asserting that the vehicle of young Naël had tried to hit them and commit homicide on their person”, denounced Me Bouzrou .
“The complaint will also target his colleague for complicity in intentional homicide,” added the lawyer.
The police officer was taken into custody on Tuesday for intentional homicide. “The blood alcohol and narcotics screening operations were carried out and turned out to be negative,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement on Tuesday evening.
According to the police, an officer would have fired while the young motorist would have run over him. But several videos of the incident circulating on Twitter contradict the initial version of the police. It shows the two police officers controlling a yellow car passing François-Arago. One of them, standing, leaning on the windshield, is aiming at the driver with his gun. When the driver restarts, the policeman shoots at point-blank range from the side of the vehicle. The car ended its race a few tens of meters further, embedded in a post.
A complaint against the second officer
This Wednesday morning, Me Jennifer Cambla, one of Naël’s family lawyers, said on franceinfo that “when we see the images, the policeman’s gesture was absolutely illegitimate” and that it “does not fit into a framework self-defense since it is clear that the policeman was on the side of the vehicle and that the vehicle was stationary”.
“It is estimated that the police custody arrived late, she adds. He was placed in police custody in the afternoon, whereas the facts took place at 8:30 in the morning (…) It is really worrying because he was able to come to an agreement with his colleague, he there could have been a disappearance of evidence, pressure on witnesses. »
The lawyer announced that a complaint was going to be filed against the second policeman. “When you watch the video and listen to it, it sounds like he’s saying the words ‘shoot it. In this case, it could constitute acts of complicity ”. For the time being, it is not known whether these words are spoken by a police officer or by an observer.
Two open investigations
An investigation, entrusted to the Nanterre police station and the Hauts-de-Seine territorial security, was opened for refusal to comply and attempted intentional homicide on a person holding public authority, said the prosecution. Another investigation, opened for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority, was entrusted to the IGPN, the police force.
According to the first elements of the investigation reported by police sources, the driver of the vehicle, a Mercedes AMG which had been rented, had committed several traffic violations. At the sight of police motorcyclists, he first stopped, before accelerating. An official then shot him in the chest. “His death was pronounced at 9:15 a.m. following at least one gunshot wound,” said the prosecution. The victim was already known to the courts, in particular for refusing to comply.
From the Assembly, Gérald Darmanin spoke of “extremely shocking images”, calling for “respect for the bereavement of families and the presumption of innocence of the police”.
This Wednesday morning, Kylian Mbappé, who grew up in Bondy (Seinte-Saint-Denis), tweeted: “I hurt my France. An unacceptable situation. All my thoughts go out to Naël’s family and loved ones, this little angel who left far too soon. »
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