Tried for willful violence, the three police officers involved in the violent arrest of Théo Luhaka in 2017, were questioned about the facts, Tuesday and Wednesday, before the Seine-Saint-Denis Assize Court.
“I caused a terrible injury without intending to do so.” On the seventh day of his trial, Wednesday January 17, Marc-Antoine C., the police officer responsible for the blow with a telescopic defense baton (BTD) which injured Théo Luhaka in the anal area during his arrest on February 2, 2017 , recognized a voluntary gesture. He did not understand the seriousness of it, he defends himself, while the young man, aged 22 at the time, today has irreversible after-effects. An injury to which the accused, judged for “intentional violence by a person holding public authority resulting in permanent disability”, says he thinks “every day”.
“At the moment, with the blow I give, I do not use excessive force”, explains the 34-year-old civil servant, who had expressed his “deep compassion” on the first day of his trial, Tuesday January 9. The former police officer, who is no longer in the field and defines himself as “an assistant” doing “computer repairs”, strives to demonstrate, during his interrogation before the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis, that his action was legitimate and proportionate.
“My objective is to touch the top of the thigh to make it bend. My action is there, I deliver this blow with this intention.”
Marc-Antoine C., accusedbefore the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis
“I didn’t perceive that he was in pain anywhere, he never expressed it,” he maintains at the bar, in a calm voice, without showing any nervous tics, unlike his former colleagues interviewed before him.
“A blow proportional to the danger”
When his turn comes to question him, Antoine Vey, Théo Luhaka’s lawyer, insists on this baton blow “not just average”. “I think I deal a blow proportionate to the danger”repeats Marc-Antoine C. The general advocate takes over. “How could you say, at the start, that Théodore Luhaka slipped on the telescopic stick? I still don’t understand how one can slip on a BTD…”, points out Loïc Pageot, weighing each word. The Advocate General notes in the police officer’s account “lots of inaccuracies”. “You are blamed for having given these blows and the conditions in which they were given.”he emphasizes.
Because the accused is also being tried for punching Théo Luhaka behind a wall, while he was handcuffed. A scene which took place away from video surveillance cameras but which a local resident filmed with her mobile phone. The images are projected on screens in the courtroom. “Luckily we have the video of this scene, otherwise we would have nothing,” underlines Antoine Vey. To Théo Luhaka’s lawyer, the ex-police officer speaks of the punch as a “stimuli”before making an act of contrition: “I slapped Mr. Luhaka, which I regret, and which has no reason to be.” He recognizes that “this hand gesture”, “instinctive”, was not “regulatory”, “not ethical”.
“A light blow to stop breathing”
Tuesday, during his interrogation before the court, his former colleague, Jérémie D., who resumed his activity as a police officer in the South-West after a two-year suspension, admitted, for his part, having inflicted a knee strike “neither adequate nor legitimate”. This gesture, for which the peacekeeper, leader of the group on the day of the arrest, is on trial, threw Théo Luhaka against a low wall, while he was handcuffed. “I’m on a peak of adrenaline, there’s tension, there’s nervousness”, justifies the civil servant, now 43 years old. Justice also accuses him of three shots of tear gas. “It was unintentionalswears the agent. I am aware that I have bitten the white line, but I have never crossed it.”
The third police officer, Tony H., remains “right in his boots” as he himself says. He believes that his gesture, “taught in a police academy”, was “proportional and legitimate”. He appears for having punched Théo Luhaka in the abdomen while the young man was already on the ground. “Was it necessary for you?”, insists the president of the Assize Court, her eyes wide. Tony H., who currently works in an anti-crime brigade (BAC), agrees: “It was not a violent blow, but a light blow to cut off breathing.” “To achieve this handcuffing as quickly as possible”, he says.
“At no time did I perceive that he was in pain, I never heard him scream,” continues Tony H. However, the photos shown at the hearing show car seats stained with blood. During their respective interrogations, Tuesday and Wednesday, the three police officers claimed to have realized the seriousness of Théo Luhaka’s injuries when they arrived at the police station, when their colleagues initiated emergency services. Remain questions about what may have happened during the ride in the police vehicle. The three officials referred to the Seine-Saint-Denis assizes deny any insult or racist remarks.
“We are made to appear as aggressive, racist, hateful police officers. That’s not that at all.”
Marc-Antoine C., accusedbefore the Assize Court of Seine-Saint-Denis
“I sympathize with your pain, even if you hate me”, declares Marc-Antoine C. at the conclusion of his interrogation, addressing Théo Luhaka and his family. The main accused faces fifteen years of criminal imprisonment. Jérémie D., for his part, risks ten years in prison, because three aggravating circumstances of intentional violence were retained, and Tony H., seven years in prison.
The president of the Assize Court asks them one last time for a final statement. The first states: “Madam President, I wanted to tell you that we have told you everything, in all sincerity.” Tony H. agrees. “We are sorry for the seriousness of this injury”, he repeats. Their respective lawyers will plead for the dropping of all charges against them, after the attorney general’s requisitions on Thursday and before the verdict, expected on Friday.