The policeman who killed two men suspected of having forced a control near the Pont-Neuf in Paris on Sunday, by shooting at their car. According to a judicial source, this 24-year-old peacekeeper was also indicted for “willful violence by a person in charge of public authority resulting in death without intention to give it” with regard to the front passenger and for ” intentional violence aggravated by a person holding public authority” towards the rear passenger.
The police officer was placed under judicial supervision
He was placed under judicial control, with a ban on leaving the territory “except in exceptional cases”, on appearing in Paris, on coming into contact with the police department to which he belongs for six months, on exercising as a police officer involving a contact with the public, carrying weapons and contact with victims. He also has a duty of care.
Requested by AFP, the prosecution clarified that numerous investigations relating to the facts, partly of a criminal nature, must still take place, in particular on the question of self-defense.
At this stage, this circumstance is not retained. Sunday shortly before midnight, a patrol of five police officers had moved towards a car parked in the opposite direction, hazard lights on, quai des Orfèvres on the Ile de la Cité, to check this vehicle, according to the intervention report of the police consulted by AFP.
As the police approached the front of the car, it started and would have “rushed towards one of the officials who moved away to avoid it”, according to the version of the police officials. “The only” police officer on the spot to be armed with an assault rifle then opened fire on the vehicle which was heading for the Pont-Neuf where it ended its race after having climbed on a median.
A dozen cartridges fired
According to the first elements of the investigation, a dozen cartridges were fired, “five or six impacts having reached the individuals”. This peacekeeper was equipped with an HK G36, an assault rifle bought urgently from the police and gendarmes after the deadly jihadist attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris to be able to respond to Kalashnikov fire.
The HK G36 was already used before by elite police and gendarmerie units.
Aged 24, the police officer presented Wednesday to two investigating judges is a member of a night support group within the Compagnie de Sécurisation de la Cité (CSC) – a unit responsible in particular for the protection of the barracks of the City, seat of the police headquarters.
He had been placed in police custody on Monday, questioned by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN). Contacted by AFP, his lawyer declined to comment.
“Preserve” the testimonials
The driver of the car, aged 25, found inert at the wheel, and his front passenger, 31, discovered lying on the ground to the right of the car, had died on the spot despite the care provided by the emergency services. Both were born in Paris and lived in the 20th arrondissement. A source familiar with the matter also indicated that they were “unfavorably known, among other things for narcotics”.
The rear passenger, 42 years old and unknown to the police, had been injured in the arm and hospitalized. He has since been heard, according to a source close to the investigation. The four other members of the police crew, a woman and three men, were also heard freely “as witnesses” by the IGPN, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Paris prosecutor’s office clarified that it did not want to communicate further on the merits of the case “in order to preserve the objectivity of the testimonies which are still to be collected”.
At the same time, the Paris prosecutor’s office also opened an investigation for “attempted intentional homicide on a person holding public authority”, entrusted to the Paris judicial police.