Clashes broke out between party-goers and police on June 21, 2019. Five people fell into the Loire, including Steve Maia Caniço.
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Commissioner Grégoire Chassaing, the only person prosecuted for the death of Steve Maia Caniço in Nantes in 2019, was acquitted on Friday September 20 by the Rennes judicial court (Ille-et-Vilaine). “It is washed and whitened. It is an indescribable relief.”reacts his lawyer, Maître Louis Cailliez, on franceinfo.
“Some people may be surprised, but I never had any doubts.”the lawyer claims. On June 21, 2019, during the Fête de la Musique, Steve Maia Caniço fell into the Loire in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique), during a police intervention. “There was no point in adding total injustice to this tragedy.”believes Mr. Cailliez, who affirms that the court concluded that he “did not see how Commissioner Chassing could have acted differently that evening given the deterioration of the situation.”
Clashes broke out between party-goers and police in the middle of the night. The police fired several tear gas grenades, creating panic. Five people fell into the Loire, including Steve Maia Caniço. The prosecution accused Commissioner Chassaing of failing to manage the situation and his men.
At the hearing last June, the Rennes prosecutor found the commissioner guilty, but did not request a specific sentence. “A confession” for Master Louis Cailliez that the case against his client was “empty”. “We should not have condemned the only commissioner who was the right fuse for the procedure”says the lawyer, regretting that his client is the only one being tried in this case. According to him, the Nantes city hall, the Loire-Atlantique prefecture, the evening’s DJ, the party-goers, the police officers present that evening “have in some way unwittingly contributed to the fall” from Steve in the Loire.
The Rennes public prosecutor’s office now has ten days to appeal this acquittal. “I dread it”confides the lawyer who nevertheless considers the judgment “unassailable”.