The image is violent. The Paris Police Prefecture announces, this Friday, to seize the General Inspectorate of the National Police after the broadcast of a video on social networks showing a policeman, in a police car, gassing a passer-by in the street located at a pedestrian crossing. “Officials once identified will be subject to suspension,” the prefecture also said in a tweet.
This video has been broadcast on social networks in recent hours, but the facts date back to early morning, this Friday, in the town of Le Bourget, in Seine-Saint-Denis, at the corner of rue du Commandant Baroche and the Avenue de la Division-Leclerc.
So what do we see in this video? This lasts only about twenty seconds. A police car is seen reversing down a street to stop at a pedestrian crossing. There, to the right of the vehicle, a passer-by with his hands full and not seeming in any way aggressive is waiting, without anyone knowing if they want to cross.
A few seconds later, a large cloud of tear gas comes out of the car, from the passenger seat. The victim turns around and brings his hands to his face, cries out in pain and collapses. The police car drives off without lingering.
The victim is a homeless
The victim is a homeless person. What was noted, in a letter addressed to the prefect of the police (competent in Paris and in the inner suburbs), the deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis Raquel Garrido, published on social networks. The video would have been filmed by a resident. “I consider that such actions on the part of the police are intolerable, especially since the attitude of this gentleman was obviously not threatening”, writes the deputy LFI.
According to the author of the video, interviewed by France TV, this homeless man threw objects at passers-by. It was when a passerby allegedly arrested the police that they arrived, gassed him, then left. The author of the video assures that the police did not come back afterwards. According to him, the facts occurred this Friday, July 15, around 4 a.m.
The inhabitants of Le Bourget “disgusted”
Reached by “Le Parisien” on the phone, this Friday afternoon, Jean-Baptiste Borsali, DVD mayor of Le Bourget, said he discovered the film at the same time as everyone else. “I was not aware, the police did not call me,” he says. He has not contacted the commissioner of the sector either and “is waiting for all the light to be shed on this affair. I cannot pass judgment at this stage. »
He knows, however, that the victim is a well-known homeless person in the town of Le Bourget: “He had been present for a long time. He wasn’t a mean guy. He was doing the trash. People also fed him. He suffered from mental problems. The first magistrate was also called by residents who had just become aware of the video: “They were disgusted to see him screaming in pain”.
This is not the first time that the behavior of police officers has been filmed. Last April, the Paris police headquarters had already seized the IGPN after the broadcast on social networks of a fight between a BAC police officer and a man, in the hall of a building located in Blanc-Mesnil. Another example in February 2021 when the IGPN had also been seized when a police officer making an arrest had been filmed making homophobic remarks.