A man was killed and another seriously injured on the night of Thursday August 18 to Friday August 19, after a roadside check in Vénissieux (Rhône). Law enforcement officials opened fire after the driver ran into them with the vehicle, slightly injuring a policeman. The Lyon public prosecutor’s office said that two investigations had been opened in the morning. Franceinfo takes stock of the known elements of this homicide.
Police open fire after refusing to comply in parking lot
The facts occurred on the night of Thursday to Friday, shortly after midnight. According to a statement from the Lyon prosecutor’s office, four night patrol police officers spotted a vehicle parked in the parking lot of a supermarket in Vénissieux, south of Lyon. According to the prosecution, the car was “reported stolen”which Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, confirmed on Friday morning.
“As the officials were preparing to check it, the driver of the vehicle engaged reverse gear then forward gear, hitting a police officer who found himself thrown onto the bonnet of the vehicle”, continues the Lyon prosecution. Two police officers, including the one on the hood, then “used their weapons on several occasions”. The car then “finishes its race a hundred meters further”.
Passenger killed and driver seriously injured
Two people occupied the passenger compartment of the vehicle, according to the details of the prosecution. “Very seriously injured”, they received first aid. The 20-year-old passenger died before firefighters arrived, while the 26-year-old driver of the vehicle was “taken to the hospital in absolute emergency” after being shot in the head. According to Rhône deputy Idir Boumertit (LFI), “the two people in the car are not from Vénissieux”he explained to Progress.
The police officer who was struck was “slightly injured in the legs” and was referred to a hospital for tests.
Two open investigations
While the two occupants of the vehicle were “very unfavorably known to the police services”, according to the Minister of the Interior, two investigations were opened following the facts: one for “concealment of theft, aggravated refusal to comply and violence with a weapon against law enforcement officers”, the another for “violence with a weapon by persons holding public authority resulting in death without the intention of giving it”. The latter was entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), the “police of the police”.
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Two police officers taken into custody and then released
The Lyon prosecutor’s office explains that the two officials who used their service weapons were in police custody on Friday morning. They were then released Friday evening, announced the parquet floor of Lyon, which adds that “Additional investigations – in particular a reconstitution and ballistic expertise – will however have to be carried out to confirm the exact circumstances in which the police officers used their weapons”. “The police will have to answer for the use of their weapons”for his part assured Gérald Darmanin.
Immediate union reactions
This “clear aggression” of police, according to Gérald Darmanin, comes two and a half months after a previous homicide following a refusal to comply, in Paris. “There are some every half hour in our country”recalled the Minister of the Interior from Corsica bereaved by storms.
“Running the police with a stolen vehicle is a crime that they must stop while protecting themselves”the National Police Commissioners Union said on Twitter. “We no longer respect the police, there is a crisis of authority”castigated on BFM TV Alain Barberis, departmental secretary of the Alliance police union in the Rhône.