The policeman who killed a driver in a police operation on Wednesday September 7 was taken into custody on Thursday evening, while the family denounces a “homicide”. The victim was shot at close range after fleeing and hitting a police vehicle. The video of the intervention was broadcast on the internet. Where’s the deal?
A man died on Wednesday September 7 in Nice, killed by point-blank fire from a police officer as he tried to flee after a chase with the police. The intervention, filmed by passers-by, was broadcast on the internet, leading to the start of a controversy over the legitimacy of the shooting. Where is the justice? What are the reactions? We take stock of the case, while the police officer who used his weapon was placed in police custody on Thursday.
The profile of the driver killed
What do we know exactly about the man who died on Wednesday at the wheel of a Hyundai Tucson SUV? The public prosecutor of Nice quickly indicated that the vehicle had been reported stolen in the Var, while the 1st deputy mayor of Nice Anthony Borré clarified for his part that the driver was driving “without a license”.
The lawyer for the victim’s family, for his part, indicated that the man was 24 years old, and that he resided in Nice “in a regular situation”. He was known to the courts and was wanted by the border police for a previous refusal to comply, specifies Nice morning.
The policeman in custody
This Wednesday, September 8 in the evening, the police officer who fired at close range with his service weapon was placed in police custody for “twenty-four hours, renewable once”, specified the assistant prosecutor of Nice. He is a 23-year-old assistant. An investigation has been opened by the IGPN, the police force.
The chronology of the intervention
The Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP) detailed this Thursday, September 8, the conditions under which the 23-year-old policeman had been brought to use his weapon. The victim’s car had been spotted by the police around 4:30 p.m. in the process of operating several dangerous overtakings on the fast lane, in Nice. Zigzags on the traffic lanes which led to the intervention of the police.
According to the officers’ statements, the driver then refused control and then left the fast lane at high speed before hitting the police car “several times”. It was at this time that the shooter would have left his vehicle and would have fired, while the victim engaged in a maneuver to free his vehicle.
A controversial video
Quickly, videos of the intervention were posted on the internet. Only the last seconds, at the time of the shot, are visible. We see the police officer firing, but no other officer directly threatened by the vehicle, as initially indicated by the police union Unit SGP.
“He is focused on the driver and on the dangerous situation. He is convinced that his teammate is behind him, this is what he explained after the fact. tension and we fall into this tunnel effect. Today, images are circulating, but reinterpreting a cold situation, that means nothing!”, Said Laurent Martin de Frémont, from the SGP Police Unit union, to Nice morning.
The family denounces “a homicide”
“It is obvious that we are dealing with a homicide, there is no discussion on it,” quickly told AFP Me Sefen Guez. The lawyer for the family of the driver killed denounced a “clearly disproportionate reaction”.
“Whatever the circumstances or the reality of his behavior previously, there was no danger of death that justifies killing this man in cold blood”, continues the lawyer registered with the Nice bar.