The Paris police headquarters announced on Friday that it had seized the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), after the broadcast on social networks of a video showing police spraying a man with tear gas at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint- Dennis).
“The prefect of police immediately seized the IGPN to initiate an investigation into the use of tear gas by a police crew, brought to his attention by a video published on social networks”, announced the prefecture in a tweet . “Officials once identified will be subject to suspension,” she added. Contacted by AFP, the public prosecutor of Bobigny, Eric Mathais, indicated that he had seized the IGPN as part of a criminal investigation opened for “violence with a weapon by a person holding public authority”.
In the video, filmed at Le Bourget and broadcast on social networks, we can see a police vehicle backing up, then stopping at the height of a man, standing on the sidewalk, with bags in his hands. A member of the crew then sprinkles the passer-by with tear gas at point-blank range. The police car then drives off, and drives away along a one-way street, leaving the man alone screaming on the sidewalk.
“Such actions on the part of the police are intolerable”, reacted the deputy (LFI) of Seine-Saint-Denis Raquel Garrido in a tweet. According to Ms. Garrido, the facts would have taken place on the night of Thursday to Friday, and involve a man “in a situation of vulnerability since he is homeless”.