The Évry Criminal Court on Friday acquitted four police officers prosecuted for violence against a young resident of Ulis (Essonne) during confinement, judging “proportionate” and “required“the blows dealt to this man of about twenty years in the”strident behavior“.
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These police officers belonged to the service of the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) of Palaiseau when they sought to control, in March 2020, Sofiane, a resident of Ulis, who first fled. They say they first tried to “calm him down“but that he was”hystericaland that they had to arrest him.
Part of the scene, broadcast on social networks, had led to the opening of an investigation by the prosecution, which had asked that the police be tried for “three shots“recalls the prosecutor, and not”a global sceneof violence. It was a truncheon in the thigh, a punch in the face, and a kick in the legs. The prosecution finally dropped the charge, considering in particular that the punch in the face was not “necessarily voluntary“after hearing”the explanationsof the police on Friday.
They “destroyed my life”
One of them detailed the “toolbox» of their method of intervention: «unarmed gestures, that is to say not made to hurt the individual, but gestures to allow our intervention“, he assured. Why did you drag Sofiane under a porch, out of sight, and from cell phones filming from the floors of the surrounding buildings? “When we control an individual, we must do it as much as possible out of sight of the public, for the dignity of the individual“said the policeman. It is also a question of avoiding receivingprojectilesfrom the floors.
The court ruled that the bludgeoning was “proportionate and necessary in view of the vehement behavior of the victim“, the same for the kick facing “a recalcitrant individual» or even in «state of rebellion“. Sofiane, he described multiple violence, his phone broken with a truncheon and racist insults. “I never had any problems with the police“but them”destroyed my life“says this Amazon employee, who does not understand why they have it”typed for no reason“.
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Why did you flee at the time of the check? The young man, who explained to go to his mother, did not have an exit certificate on him, in full confinement. He explained that he was afraid of being checked, in particular because of cases of alleged police violence, in this sensitive district of Ulis. “At this hearing, we have police officers who limit themselves to evoking (the facts) in an extremely technical way (…) but I did not feel a humanity, understanding“Lamented the young man’s lawyer, Samim Bolaky.
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