The 18-year-old driver of the two-wheeler died from his injuries after the accident on Wednesday evening. His passenger is injured, but his life is not in danger. Two investigations have been opened to shed light on the facts.
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A young 18-year-old scooter driver died from his injuries on Wednesday evening. He was hit by a police car in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis), after a chase. The passenger, slightly injured, was hospitalized. The town hall appealed for calm on Thursday 14 March, calling for the matter “is treated with the greatest rigor and as quickly as possible”. Here is what we know about this affair.
The prosecution evokes a refusal to comply, a thesis refuted by witnesses
In a press release published Thursday morning, the Bobigny public prosecutor, Eric Mathais, gave a chronology of the facts. On Wednesday, around 8:30 p.m., two people on scooters refused a police check. The driver and his passenger fled, “by committing multiple traffic violations.” A crew from the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) is then called in for reinforcement.
It is at this moment that the police officer who drives the BAC car finds himself “forced to swerve to avoid a vehicle that did not respect a priority”. He then enters “collided with the scooter coming in the opposite direction”, according to the prosecution. The scene was filmed by the cameras of the town of Aubervilliers and the first operations of “public road videos” confirm this sequence of events, adds the Bobigny prosecutor. “The police vehicle had to deviate from the traffic lane, due to a non-respected priority of a vehicle being identified, and thus found itself facing the scooter which was coming in the opposite direction at high speed after dismounting to overtake”summarizes Eric Mathais in his press release.
According to a witness to the scene, with whom France Télévisions was able to speak, he asserts that it was the BAC car which “blocked the road” on the scooter, before the latter returns “in the van across the street.” Images obtained by France 2 show the driver of the scooter colliding with a car which was avoiding a taxi. The police theory of refusal to comply was also refuted by other witnesses met during the night by AFP.
Seine-Saint-Denis: a young person loses his life after a collision with a police car (France 2)
A fatal collision between a young person on a scooter and a police car following a chase took place in Aubervilliers (Seine-Saint-Denis) on Wednesday March 13. The driver, an 18-year-old boy, died.
Scooter driver killed, passenger injured
HAS18 years old and resident of La Courneuve, a town near Aubervilliers, the driver of the scooter was immediately transported to hospital. Seriously injured, he succumbed to his injuries in the evening, around 11 p.m. hours, according to the Bobigny prosecutor. The passenger, aged 19 years old, is injured, but his vital prognosis is not engaged. A video, shot just after the incident and obtained by France 2, shows the police dragging the passenger onto the sidewalk to wait for help. He was placed in police custody for “complicity in refusing to comply”. This police custody was lifted Thursday morning “to enable care to be carried out”.
The three police officers in the vehicle were also taken to hospital. “All the screenings carried out (alcohol and narcotics) turned out to be negative,” specifies the prosecutor.
Two open investigations
An investigation for “aggravated refusal to comply” was entrusted to the judicial accident processing service, according to the prosecutor. Another, for “involuntary manslaughter and involuntary injuries”, targets the police and was entrusted to the IGPN. Both services attended the scene.
The images filmed by a city camera can be analyzed by the IGPN, which must also hear the police officers.
LFI deputies denounce “police doctrine”
In a press release posted Thursday noon on his X account, Bastien Lachaud, LFI deputy for the 6th constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, including Aubervilliers, declares that “No one should, ever, die for refusing to comply.” “And yet, these situations recur, again and again”, he continues, assuring that “Twelve people were killed following a refusal to comply, in 2022 alone. Young people, again and again. We cannot tolerate this.”
Thomas Portes, LFI deputy for the 3rd constituency of Seine-Saint-Denis, also expressed his “anger”, appellant “to change police doctrine from top to bottom”.
A call for calm launched by the municipality of Aubervilliers
In a press release published Thursday morning, the City of Aubervilliers conveys its thoughts “to the family and loved ones of the victim” and greet “exemplary work” municipal police, “intervened quickly”.
The mayor of Aubervilliers, Karine Franclet (UDI), claims to have contacted the Paris police prefect, Laurent Nuñez, so that the case “is treated with the greatest rigor and as quickly as possible”. While awaiting the results of the investigations, she calls “the residents of Aubervilliers, particularly the youngest, to show responsibility and calm.”
At the end of June, Nahel, 17, was killed by police shooting during a road check in Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). His death triggered several nights of very intense urban violence in the country.
Several collisions of this type in recent months
This tragedy comes in addition to the numerous recent cases of young people dying in recent months in France during chases with the police. Last December, two 17-year-old teenagers died following an accident with their scooter in Chelles (Seine-et-Marne). A week later, a 22-year-old man years old lost his life in similar circumstances in Marseille.
Previously, on the night of October 6 to 7, a 23-year-old man years old died in a scooter accident while being chased by municipal police officers in Saint-Priest (Rhône). Two months earlier, on the night of the 5th to the 6th August, in Limoges, two young people riding a scooter died after hitting a vehicle while trying to escape a police check.