This Thursday, July 14, 2016, Christophe S. is on vacation in Nice with his wife and his three-year-old son. “This former ski instructor in Haute-Savoie, 46, leaves with his family to watch the fireworks. All three are not very far from the Palais de la Méditerranée on the North sidewalk. It’s 10:35 p.m. when they see the truck rushing with a movement of the crowd preceding it.” explains Nicolas Gemsa lawyer at the bar of Nice and who with his sister, the lawyer Florence Gemsa, represent nearly 300 civil parties in the trial of the Nice attack.
A lost bullet, a miracle
“In the general panic, they start running to escape, but Christophe has to stop when he feels a sharp pain in the stomach. A bullet passed through his stomach and then his small intestine before ending up in his forearm. His wife and child continue to flee. He is taken to hospital. His vital prognosis is engaged: he has gas and blood in the abdomen, pneumo peritoneum and hemi peritoneum. He underwent emergency digestive surgery before being placed in intensive care. The surgeon then told him: you are a miracle.“
Christophe almost died and remains fifteen days in the hospital of Nice. “He has kept since serious consequences including for the mobility of one hand.” Deeply touched, as well as his wife and son, “they decide a few months later to leave France to forget everything and start a new life in Latin America. The Guarantee Fund for Terrorism Victims compensated them, including his then 33-year-old wife and his little boy who were very disturbed.”
No ballistic study
“Police officers came to interview him three days later at the hospital, but he was too weak and ended the interview. In the service, he hears that the bullet was 9 mm caliber and it is therefore not the terrorist’s weapon which was 7.65 caliber. There was no ballistics study, the prosecutor had not made a request. (…) This story, in the heavy flood of 3,000 complaints, went unnoticed. He is the only one injured by bullets in the attack.“.
On Wednesday, on the third day of the trial before the special assize court in Paris, the investigator of the anti-terrorist sub-directorate (SDAT) cited this gunshot wound to a man “very likely” from a police shooting. Nicolas Gemsa adds: ” And geographically, Christophe, who was behind the truck, could not a priori have been hit by a shot from the terrorist.”
That evening, 61 bullet holes were noted on the truck during the neutralization of Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.
Blameless, it’s a quest for truth
Christopher S “do not blame anyone, but for him it’s important to know who fired, this question haunted him for a long time. Today, he lives far away and cannot travel to come and testify.“, underlines his lawyer. And Me Nicolas Gemsa to add: “I am absolutely not mandated for an action in liability without fault of the State because of the action of the national police during the neutralization of the terrorist.