After the death of a 17-year-old young man following a shot by a police officer, two investigations were opened by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office. The 38-year-old police officer who fired the shot is in custody for “intentional homicide”.
Following the death of Nahel M., a 17-year-old, the policeman who used his weapon in Nanterre on Tuesday June 27 was taken into custody. Two investigations were opened by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office: one for refusal to comply and attempted intentional homicide of a person holding public authority and the other for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority. The IGPN is responsible for the second.
Mathieu Valet, spokesperson for the Independent Union of Police Commissioners, on Europe 1, was moved by the broadcast of videos on social networks revealing the identity of the police officer in police custody. According to him, “a vendetta has been organized against this policeman” and “a judicial inquiry has been opened by the Paris prosecutor’s office”.
The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, indicated on BFMTV that the police officer responsible for the shooting was “38 years old” and was “himself very shocked by this tragedy”. His “state of service does not call for observation”, he added, saying however “challenged by this gesture”. The Nanterre public prosecutor’s office specified in a press release that “the blood alcohol screening operations and the consumption of narcotic products were carried out and proved to be negative” when he was taken into custody.
At the start of the case, several police sources claimed that two police officers would have been endangered by a vehicle rushing at them, which legitimized the use of a firearm to stop this car.
It was around 8:20 a.m. when two police officers attempted to stop a Mercedes vehicle. The driver is then suspected of multiplying traffic violations while driving a rental car. On the video of a witness, we see that the vehicle is on, but stopped at the level of avenue Frédéric-et-Irène-Jolio-Curie. A peace officer then takes aim at the driver. He is glued to his colleague and located on the side of the vehicle and not in the front as the police version indicated.
When the Mercedes tries to flee from control, the police officer opens fire. The car escaped for a few tens of meters before ending up in a post. Despite the arrival of help, the 17-year-old was quickly pronounced dead.
One of the two investigations opened by the Nanterre public prosecutor’s office led to the custody of the police officer who fired the fatal shot: that for intentional homicide by a person holding public authority. Interviewed on Franceinfo, Maître Jennifer Cambla, one of the lawyers for the family of the young man killed, said that the family wanted to file a complaint for “false public writing” and for “complicity” against the second police officer present during the events.
“When we watch the video, it seems that he pronounces the words ‘Shoot it’. This would constitute acts of complicity”, according to master Cambla to explain this accusation of complicity. The lawyer also regretted that “this police custody came late since he was placed in police custody in the afternoon for events that took place at 8:30 a.m. He was able to come to an agreement with his colleague. There may have been a disappearance of evidence, or pressure on witnesses.”
This custody would have been controlled by several deputies of the Nupes. In a tweet, Ségolène Amiot (MP for Loire-Atlantique) posted several videos at the Nanterre police station where we see the presence of Thomas Portes (MP for Seine-Saint-Denis), Sabrina Sabaihi (MP for Hauts-de- Seine), Antoine Léaument (MP for Essone) and Louis Boyard (MP for Val-de-Marne) in the premises where the police officer is in custody. MP Amiot explains that they were present “to exercise our right to control places of deprivation of liberty”.
