“The only thing we are waiting for is to recognize the truth, and it is coming little by little”, notes Sofia Chouviat. Tuesday evening, the daughter of Cédric Chouviat, delivery man killed during an arrest two years ago, was received on the set of Do not touch My TV to react to the new video unveiled this Tuesday by Release. On the images filmed by the victim’s phone, we hear him repeat nine times that he can no longer breathe. The man put on the ground, policemen on his back and helmet on his head, says “I’m suffocating”.
“I saw him leave”
“When someone does something they didn’t do on purpose, why do they try to protect themselves and lie?” continued Sofia Chouviat. The first versions of the police indeed tended to make believe that the man had fallen alone to the ground. The whole debate now focuses on the intelligibility of Cédric Chouviat’s words: did the police clearly hear the words, clearly audible in the video because they were recorded by the microphone of his helmet?
“The images are strong. When I read the expert report from A to Z, I fell apart. I fell into the suffering of my son, I saw him leave», also told Christian Chouviat, father of the victim. This video was revealed the day after the publication of an expert report directly questioning the role of the police in the death of the courier on January 3, 2020. Five experts confirm that the chokeholds and the ventral tackle exerted by the police have “resulted in a very rapid deprivation of oxygen to the brain”. The 42-year-old delivery man then suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest.
Three of the four police officers who took part in the check were indicted in July 2020 for “manslaughter”. The family of Cédric Chouviat requests a reclassification of the facts as intentional violence resulting in death, even homicide.
“National shame”
The political sphere was also moved by the images revealed. “This police violence is a national disgrace. A priority: to prohibit these barbaric practices and put an end to the impunity of their perpetrators”, was indignant Manon Aubry, MEP LFI and president of the left group in Parliament.
The deputy of Val-d’Oise Aurélien Taché has on his side tweeted a sober #GeorgeFloyd, in reference to the murder of the African-American by a police officer in the United States.
“Support for Cédric’s loved ones, and all the families of victims of police violence fighting for justice and truth against those who deny that the police kill”had previously tweeted the NPA presidential candidate, Philippe Poutou, when the expert report was published.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who declared “When I hear the word ‘police violence’, I personally choke”a few months after the death of the delivery man, did not react.