What we know about the death of a young man in Cherbourg, while a policewoman is indicted for intentional homicide

The 19-year-old driver “did not comply with the warnings” and continued on his way before being forced to stop by the vehicle of a second police crew, reported the Cherbourg prosecutor.

A 19-year-old young man was killed on Sunday June 9 in Cherbourg (Manche) around 11:40 p.m., after trying to escape a police check for speeding. Sullivan was traveling in a stolen vehicle and was “fatally shot in the chest” by a shot, reported the Cherbourg prosecutor’s office. A police officer was taken into custody and then indicted for “intentional homicide”. The General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN) was seized of the investigation. Franceinfo takes stock of what we know about this tragedy.

A road check after a speeding violation

On Sunday evening, a crew of three police officers attempted to control a vehicle driving at excessive speed in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Cherbourg prosecutor Pierre-Yves Marot reported on Monday. The driver did not “did not comply with the summons” and continued on his way before being forced to stop by the vehicle of a second police crew.

The three occupants then fled on foot, one managed to escape, another was arrested and taken into custody for receiving stolen goods, the vehicle being reported as stolen, continues the Cherbourg public prosecutor’s office.

“The third individual, a young man aged 19 from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, found himself facing two of the police officers from the second crew and intentionally pushed one of them while fleeing”specified Pierre-Yves Marot. “The official then used an electric pulse gun” while a “another agent used his firearm, fatally hitting him in the chest”.

According to a source close to the case at franceinfo, the young man was not armed. The prosecutor subsequently relinquished the investigation in favor of the Coutances investigation center.

Policewoman indicted for murder

According to France Bleu, confirming information from Parisian, Sullivan’s family filed a complaint for voluntary manslaughter. At the end of the police custody measure, she was “presented to an investigating judge and indicted on the charge of intentional homicide”announced the Coutances prosecutor, Gauthier Poupeau. “The police officer was placed under strict judicial supervision” which prohibits her in particular from going to Cherbourg, from exercising police activity and requires her to submit to examination, treatment or care measures, and not to hold or carry a weapon.

His colleagues defended to France Bleu, a civil servant “very, very professional, who has worked in Cherbourg for many years and who has an exemplary record”describes Christelle Sanier, secretary of the Alliance police union in Manche. “She would not have fired if she did not feel it was necessary to save her own life (…) no police officer uses his weapon because it gives him pleasure.” The IGPN was seized of the investigation to determine the precise course of events.

Violence in Cherbourg

During the night from Monday to Tuesday, between 1 a.m. and just over 3 a.m., scuffles broke out in the city, franceinfo learned from a police source. Local police officers and CRS 8 agents were attacked by around fifteen people. They came under projectile fire and mortar fire. A barricade was dismantled by the CRS. There were no injuries, according to the same source. Three trash cans, four scooters and pallets were set on fire as well as two bus shelters. However, the link between these tensions and the death of the 19-year-old young man has not been clearly established.

Several orders were issued on Tuesday to prohibit “the transport and sale of fireworks and fuel in transportable containers or for the authorization of the capture of images from aircraft cameras”declared the prefect in a message on X.

In a joint press release, the prefect of Manche, Xavier Brunetière, and the mayor of the city, Benoît Arrivé, joined forces “to express their emotion and call for calm, dignity and respect for the family’s mourning”.

A white march organized on Wednesday

After this violence, Sullivan’s family called for calm, reports France Bleu. The socio-cultural association La Maison pour tous Léo-Lagrange located in the Les Provinces district, where the young man lived, organized a white march on Wednesday. Several hundred people gathered in Octeville.

In the neighborhood, Sullivan’s friends paid tribute to him. “He was a guy always with a smile, he had a zest for life, he told jokes, it made us laugh,” remembers Landri, to France Bleu. “He was a good, happy, friendly young man,” adds Abdoul-Karim, his friend from college.

According to his distant cousin Yaya, interviewed by France Bleu, Sullivan had studied to become a heating engineer. “I bet two pizzas that he wouldn’t get his baccalaureate, but he won! He got his diploma, he did his work-study training and he worked.”