Two investigations have been opened. Two other people were in the vehicle at the time. One passenger fled, the other was arrested and taken into custody.
A 17-year-old motorist was killed on Tuesday, June 27, in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine), by a police officer who used his weapon. The facts took place around 8:30 a.m., near the Nanterre-Préfecture RER station, near Nelson-Mandela Square.
The prosecution opened two investigations, one for refusal to comply and attempted intentional homicide against a person holding public authority, the other for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority. The second was entrusted to the IGPN, the police force. Here is what we know about the circumstances of the death of this teenager.
Three people were in the vehicle at the time of the check
According to the first elements of the investigation communicated by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office to France Télévisions, three people were in the vehicle, a Mercedes AMG, at the time of the check carried out by two policemen riding a motorbike.
A video posted on Twitter by a witness, and authenticated by France Télévisions, shows these two police officers controlling a yellow car near the Passage François-Arago in Nanterre. One of them, standing, leaning on the windshield, is aiming at the driver with his gun. When the driver restarts, the policeman shoots at point-blank range from the side of the vehicle. A second shot shows the car embedded in a pole, a few tens of meters further.
#nanterre #police #leak pic.twitter.com/TjKuvGLWda
— Ohana (@Ohana_Fgn) June 27, 2023
In a first version, the police claimed that the driver had run over them. They then said he only accelerated after stopping in their sight, franceinfo learned from a police source.
An investigation, entrusted to the Nanterre police station and the Hauts-de-Seine territorial security, was opened for refusal to comply and attempted intentional homicide on a person holding public authority, said the prosecution. Another investigation, opened for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority, was entrusted to the IGPN, the police force. One of the two passengers, also a minor, was arrested and taken into custody. The other is on the run, said the Nanterre prosecution.
The victim’s family will file a complaint against the shooter
The victim, hit in the chest, died shortly after being injured, despite the intervention of the Samu who gave him cardiac massage on the spot. He was pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m. following “at least one gunshot wound”specifies the parquet floor of Nanterre. His family will file a complaint for intentional homicide against the policeman who fired the shot, his lawyers announced to franceinfo.
According to the same source, the 17-year-old motorist was known to the justice services for traffic offences. He had been referred to the Nanterre prosecutor’s office the weekend before the facts for refusing to comply, without being presented to a juvenile judge, franceinfo learned from a judicial source. He had been implicated for two other refusals to comply, in 2022 and 2021.
“Shattered by the death of the young man, Patrick Jarry, mayor of Nanterre, expresses his most sincere condolences to his mother as well as to his family and loved ones. He hopes that the investigations opened (…) will make it possible for the more quickly all the light on the exact circumstances of this tragedy”reacted the municipality in a press release.
The police are members of the department’s territorial traffic and road safety company
As Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin reported during questions to the government in the National Assembly, the police officers involved are members of the Hauts-de-Seine territorial traffic and road safety company. The latter is part, with the department of motorcycle companies in Paris and its counterparts in Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne, of the regional motorcycle division of the DOPC, the Directorate of Public Order and Traffic. , within the police prefecture.
“It is a tragedy that this young 17-year-old driver died as a result of this control obviously”said the Ministerwhile asserting that “in very many cases, police and gendarmes have died from refusing to comply”, calling to “respect the presumption of innocence” of the two Nanterre policemen.
Following the death this morning, in Nanterre, of a young driver controlled by two police officers, the IGPN was seized to shed light on the circumstances of this tragedy.
— Gérald DARMANIN (@GDarmanin) June 27, 2023
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, clarified on BFMTV that the police officer who fired the shot was “38 years old” and was “himself very shocked by this tragedy”. His “service records do not call for observation”he added, saying however “challenged by this gesture”.
The left is stepping up after the tragedy
The drama provoked strong reactions on the left, where many politicians relayed the video of the shooting. “Yes, a refusal to comply is against the law, but death is not part of the penalties provided for in the Penal Code”, tweeted the coordinator of La France insoumiseManuel Bompard. “A refusal to comply cannot be a death sentence. For no one. Never”supported the Green MP Sandrine Rousseau.
“The refusal to comply does not give a license to kill. It is not a question of the electorate, but of humanity and respect for the rule of law!”for his part wrote the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure.