Commissioner Grégoire Chassaing is on trial from Monday before the Rennes criminal court. He is the only one to appear for the death of the young man, who fell in the Loire during the Fête de la Musique in 2019.
The affair aroused great emotion and strong criticism of the intervention of the police. During a police operation intended to stop an electro evening on Beaulieu Island, in Nantes, organized for the Fête de la Musique in 2019, Steve Maia Caniço, a 24-year-old after-school entertainer, fell into the Loire and drowned. Nearly five years after the events, the police commissioner who headed the force on site, Grégoire Chassaing, was tried for manslaughter. His trial, which opens Monday June 10 in Rennes, is expected to last five days. Franceinfo returns to this affair in five questions.
1 What happened on the night of June 21 to 22, 2019?
This Friday, June 21, 2019, the streets of Nantes are lively for the Music Festival. On the Quai Wilson, on the banks of the Loire, independent organizers set up sound system (walls of sound) under barnums. As in previous years, despite the absence of official authorization, the practice is tolerated until 4 a.m. Then the police ask each DJ to turn off the music. The first ones comply, but at the level of the penultimate sound system, police commissioner Grégoire Chassaing encountered resistance. Twice, the music is restarted. “One of the DJs was looking at me with a smirk,” supports, during his hearings, the commissioner, who equates the rictus to a “provocation”. He then orders his troops to equip themselves to “to go back there”.
Projectiles (rocks, glass bottles, etc.) fly when the police are in the process of covering themselves. It’s 4:28 a.m. Three minutes later, the officials responded with tear gas, according to the investigation led by two investigating judges. A cloud of smoke envelopes the platform where the participants are seated. Around thirty tear gas grenades, 12 defensive bullets (LBD) and ten de-encirclement grenades were fired. The situation only calmed down at dawn.
2 What do we know about the death of Steve Maia Caniço?
Present during the festivities on Beaulieu Island, Steve Maia Caniço, a 24-year-old after-school activity leader, has not given any further news. His mother reported his disappearance on June 23, 2019. She was very worried because her son did not know how to swim. However, several people fell into the Loire during the evening. His last text message was at 3:12 a.m. “I’m too tired, I need help”, he wrote to a friend present on site. Another friend saw him lying down a meter from the water, a little away from the crowd. He wakes him up twenty minutes later. A third friend dances with him when the music stops, around 4:30 a.m., before walking away. The first round of tear gas is launched. Shortly after, witnesses said they saw a person drifting in the water, then sinking.
The body of Steve Maia Caniço was discovered in the Loire more than a month later, on July 29. Forensic analyzes concluded that the death was caused by drowning. The investigation will determine that he fell from the platform, which is not equipped with barriers, without being able to locate the precise location. Tests of his phone, found on him, established the exact time of his fall at 4:33 and 14 seconds. The toxicological expertise confirms that the young man had drunk alcohol but, according to his friends, he was not drunk.
3 What do we blame the police commissioner for?
The investigating judges accuse Grégoire Chassaing of “succession of wrongful behavior”. By wanting to go “in contact with the partygoers”, they are “manifestly removed from the doctrine of maintaining order”, they write in their referral order for manslaughter, issued on December 18, 2023 and consulted by franceinfo. “Rather than calming things down, Commissioner Chassaing’s attitude will contribute to significantly worsening the situation.” The use of weapons “is all the more disproportionate as it was done at night, without prior warning, without any visibility and without discernment”, underline the two magistrates. They also criticize him for not having taken into account “the configuration of the premises and proven fall risks” on the banks of the Loire.
The magistrates establish that “from 4:31 a.m. [soit deux minutes avant la chute du jeune homme]tear gas grenades are sent in the direction of the partygoers, causing an initial pushback movement.. They therefore believe that the commissioner committed a “blatant misconduct” And “unintentionally caused” the death of the young man.
4 Why is he the only one sent to justice?
Initially, three people were indicted for manslaughter. But Claude d’Harcourt and Johann Mougenot, respectively prefect and sub-prefect of Loire-Atlantique at the time of the events, ultimately benefited from a dismissal of the case. To be retained, a “blatant misconduct” must expose others to a serious risk, which cannot be ignored, with an awareness of the danger that their behavior poses to others. However, for the investigating judges, the clashes between the police and the revelers were not foreseeable by the authorities.
Only the police commissioner is therefore referred to the criminal court. A decision that Steve’s family lawyer Maia Caniço welcomes. “If other people had been referred to the criminal court, the responsibility of the commissioner would have been diluted and he could have shifted his responsibility to other defendants”develops Cécile de Oliveira. “Administrative responsibilities could have been sought from the town hall and the prefecture. But the criminal responsibility for involuntary manslaughter lies with Grégoire Chassaing”she considers.
5 How does he defend himself?
The commissioner, still in post after a transfer to Lyon, has not been sanctioned on a disciplinary level and retains the support of his hierarchy, assures his lawyer, Louis Cailliez. Grégoire Chassaing completely rejects any infringement. “He did not commit any blatant fault, and did not cause, even indirectly, the death of Steve Maia Caniço”, declared his lawyer during a press conference on June 4. According to him, “the most credible explanation (…) is that of a fortuitous fall in the Loire, inadvertently, simply because of the intrinsically dangerous configuration of the place, and without any connection with the police”. The lawyer further emphasizes that “many witnesses and experts are cited [29 au total]which means that justice wants to redo the case.”
“Some accidents are both everyone’s fault and no one’s fault. This one, in any case, is not the fault of Grégoire Chassaing. It’s difficult to hear that there is no criminal responsibility, but it remains the truth nonetheless. insists the lawyer, who will plead for acquittal. His client faces up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros, the maximum penalty provided for involuntary manslaughter without aggravating circumstances.