It was June 8, 2018. Ismaël, a 4-year-old boy, had died in front of his family, when he was blocked at chest level between the cabin and the landing on the 1st floor of the Côté Seine shopping center in Paris. ‘Argenteuil. As the elevator doors opened on the first floor, the device stalled, and the child exiting became trapped.
This Thursday, four years after the tragedy, five lift operators – Bagneux Hydraulique, TK Elevator France, Otis, Schindler and Bureau Veritas Exploitation – were indicted for “manslaughter”, franceinfo learned from Yassine Bouzrou, the lawyer for family. The justice considered that the legal safety obligations had not been respected: the investigating judge relied in particular on an expert report delivered on December 26, 2019 which points to negligence in the maintenance of this hydraulic lift placed in service in 2002.
The five elevator operators were indicted as a legal entity at the end of May and the beginning of June for “manslaughter” by the judicial court of Pontoise. For Maître Yassine Bouzrou, family lawyer, it is “an important step forward but which should have taken place a long time ago”. The lawyer now wishes that“a trial takes place quickly”. This Sunday, a silent white march will be held in Argenteuil, in tribute to the young boy. The procession will leave from the city center station to make a stop in front of the shopping center before joining the park of the banks.