Ddifficult to tell the whole truth about the refusal to comply on Saturday June 4 around 11 a.m. in Paris, between rue Custine and boulevard Barbès. Residents interviewed by Point around “L’Instant”, the local café, remember that the police put pressure on those who had taken out their cell phones to film: “A policeman was almost face to face with a young black man. It was the girl in the arrested car who separated them. »
Similarly, the three police officers implicated entrusted their defense to a single lawyer. What the police generally prevent when they investigate ordinary suspects, because of the risks of consultation, because they could agree to give the same version. At best, they call on the President of the Bar to arbitrate. There, the judicial police investigating the attempted homicide of the police officers found nothing to complain about. No more than the IGPN. Appearances of impartiality are barely preserved. “The police, by seizing the chairman, regularly prevents lawyers from defending two clients during police custody and they are right to do so, it prevents any risk of consultation between the defendants. But this time no one said anything. In addition, the lawyer for the police communicated the elements legally covered by the secrecy of the investigation”, protests Me Marie Violleau, the lawyer for Inès-Véronique, the survivor of the car, is the target of police fire after the driver refused to comply.
Call for witnesses
But the investigating services have just launched a call for witnesses, which, if successful, should provide new elements to the investigating judge who has just been appointed. She must try to shed light on the exact role of the police and on their responsibility, in particular in the death of Rayana, a 21-year-old young Parisian who had spent the morning after – in a nightclub – for fun and above all to dance, “his greatest love”, say his friends on social networks. An only child, her mother had to recover her body, shot in the head, the next day, at the Pitié-Salpêtrière morgue.
Inès-Véronique, 21, the survivor passenger of the 207 whose driver refused to obey police orders, confided in the Point : “The lawyer for the police says that they were afraid for their lives, yet it is a constraint of their job, they are trained and armed to face the danger. We, on the other hand, in the car, we were all really afraid for our lives and my friend Rayana, I saw her die. She didn’t do anything at all. »
“We went out to dance”
“We went out after to dance. We spent the night on the phone until 5 a.m. with another friend, who fell asleep. As Rayana and I weren’t tired, we decided to go out. Rayana loved to dance, it was her greatest pleasure. I took an Uber to Pigalle and she took the first metro in the morning. At La Foule, we found friends who were, themselves, with other boyfriends and girlfriends. Some left, we stayed, then around 9 o’clock, we decided to go home, we made a detour to McDonald’s, and two acquaintances of our friends offered to take us home. It had been decided to drop off Rayana first, that she find her mother. She is an only child.
While driving, we passed police officers on mountain bikes who saw that the driver did not have his seat belt fastened. They signaled him to stop. He started to slow down, he stopped. The police came up to us, they knocked on the window. Mohamed didn’t open the door and kept his hands on the steering wheel. There, two police officers smash the side windows with their weapons. At no time did I hear a warning, yet the windows, which had ended up breaking under the impact of the rifle butts, let the sound of their voices through. »
“I straightened her backwards and there I saw her neck full of blood”
“While restarting, the driver receives – at the same time in the same movement – several shots, at least one of which hits Rayana, in the left temple. She was killed by the policeman who was on the driver’s side. I didn’t realize immediately that she had been hit, I thought she had passed out. I called her, I shook her, she leaned forward, I straightened her backwards and there I saw her neck full of blood. »
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“Mohamed, the driver, was hit in the chest, it was the same policeman who fired. I counted nearly ten shots. Traffic was slow, we couldn’t have gone very far. Ibrahima, who was in the back seat with me, suspected that something serious was going to happen when the police started breaking the windows. He said to us “get down”. Me, I obeyed. I don’t see when the police risked their lives. The police were on the sides, their colleagues arrived at the back. In my memories, there was no one in the front path of the car. No police, no pedestrians, no cyclists. There is a bus slowing us down. Then Mohamed took a one-way lane and there we came face to face with a van. Mohamed opened his door, he ran away, he didn’t get very far. He collapsed, the police fell on him. »
“The police prevented us from going to the hospital”
“At the same time, other police officers told us: get out, hands on your head, we obeyed. We were handcuffed to each other with Ibrahima. Firefighters asked us if they wanted to go to the hospital. We answered yes. We were in shock. The policemen objected, saying that we had to be heard first. An OPJ even tried to conduct our hearing on the sidewalk. We were in no condition to speak. It’s a huge trauma and despite that, we weren’t taken to the hospital, we were taken to the police station on 10e borough. We testified, I didn’t have the courage to re-read my statement, I signed it without even re-reading it. The police called their police colleague from the police so that I could also be interviewed by them. The IGPN guy insisted but I refused. Then I went to the hospital where Rayana was: the doctor left us with no hope, he told us: “She has no chance, her brain is suffering too much, her condition will get worse day by day. , There is nothing more to do.” The next day, Sunday, we were told he was dead.
Since this tragic event, I have heard totally indecent remarks. Cyril Hanouna said on TV as he received Rayana’s mother’s lawyer: “Conclusion: beware who you get into the car with.” As if it was written on people’s heads that they are not going to obey a police check. They told me the driver was a delinquent. It’s not him who killed Rayana, that’s for sure. Responsibilities should not be reversed. She was an only child, Rayana. He’s a victim. »
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