Motorists injured by bullets in August 2021: two police officers indicted for intentional violence

The two civil servants, aged 28 and 31 and assigned to the Stains anti-crime brigade (BAC), were indicted on September 8 for one, on October 3 for the other, for "intentional violence having led to a ITT (total incapacity for work) greater than eight days per person holding public authority and with the use of their service weapon", said the prosecution, confirming information from the Bondy Blog.

They have also been placed under judicial control, which deprives them of the possibility of exercising their professional activity on the public highway and prohibits them from carrying or possessing a weapon.

"They responded within the legal framework to violence" from the motorist who, "three times, tried to run over the police" while maneuvering his vehicle, reacted to AFP Laurent-Franck Liénard , the lawyer for the agents, stating that he was going to challenge the judicial review measures.

When the indictments were announced, "we felt something so strong that even a single word would not be enough to express it," the passenger, named Meryl, told AFP.

"It is already for us a recognition of our victim status and a real ray of hope" after having returned "from so far", she said.

This dossier combines two parallel procedures, which evolve at different paces. The 37-year-old driver, also prosecuted for "refusal to comply" and "violence with a weapon", in this case his car, was sentenced in February to two years in prison by the Bobigny court.

He appealed this decision and will be tried again before the Paris Court of Appeal on Tuesday.

- Movie scene -

The indictments of the police mark a new stage in the legal proceedings led by an examining magistrate, more than a year after this stormy night on a boulevard, in this popular city north of Paris.

Around 1:30 a.m., a BAC crew intervened to check a vehicle. On board, two people: the driver and his passenger, lying on the back seat.

The police try to control the car but it, first immobilized near the police, backs up and then goes forward again, explained a source close to the investigation at the time of the events. .

The victims claim on the contrary to have been surprised, not suspecting that they were police officers, because without armband or identifiable vehicle.

An amateur video, massively shared on social networks as it seems taken from a film, partially shows the intervention, when two police officers fired several times in the direction of the car.

The driver received several bullets in the chest, arm and pubis. He will come out of it despite everything, after a long hospitalization. His companion, a passenger, is seriously injured in the back, which will earn him 100 days of ITT.

The two police officers were immediately taken into custody before being released.

"Why did they shoot? We are waiting for justice to do its job because there, it is abused (...) Fortunately there are videos", was indignant Fatiah, member of the family, during a demonstration of support a few days after the events.

This case echoes the recent multiplication of police shootings with tragic results when they refuse to comply, in Sevran, Paris, Rennes or Nice.

The passenger of a fleeing vehicle was thus killed on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday in Grenoble. The context differs, however, because the driver exchanged shots with the police before being arrested.