2023-04-21 19:53:00
TPolice kings, suspected of having hit a scooter ridden by three teenagers and having injured them in the accident, on April 13 in Paris, were suspended after changing their version of the facts and placed in police custody on Thursday.
Shortly before midnight, in the 20th arrondissement of the capital, a scooter carrying three minors aged 17, 14 and 13, including one without a helmet, was chased by a police car before falling.
The police “wanted to check” the scooter but “the driver refused to stop” and “took a street in the opposite direction before losing control (of his two-wheeler) in circumstances that remain to be established” , the police headquarters (PP) explained on Tuesday.
But according to a 37-year-old woman, presenting herself as a witness to the facts, the police vehicle hit the two-wheeler. “I saw the scooter get up and especially the bodies ejected before falling on the sidewalk,” she said Thursday at a press conference organized by Arié Alimi, lawyer for the two families of minors.
The 17-year-old driver was taken to hospital in serious condition. Friday, his vital prognosis was no longer engaged, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office.
“She opened her eyes but she can’t speak at all,” her cousin and PCF councilor for the 20th arrondissement, Sadji Sakho, told AFP, adding that the teenager, “affected in the spine”, suffered “three operations”.
The driver’s brother, Salif, 13, injured in the liver, left the hospital and was heard by the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), according to Mr. Sakho. The second passenger, 14-year-old Hilan, did not have a helmet, which sparked the chase with the fact that there were too many of them on the scooter, Mr Sakho added.
The Paris prosecutor’s office entrusted the IGPN with an investigation into the conditions in which the scooter fell, and opened another into the driver’s refusal to comply.
“Inappropriate gestures”
The Minister of the Interior announced Friday on franceinfo to have “asked the prefect of police to suspend (…) those who would be responsible – in particular a driver and other police officers – for this situation”.
“I understand that the testimonies of the police officers of the first day are not those of today and that they recognize gestures which are not appropriate”, added Gérald Darmanin. “The testimonies here and there” seem to indicate “an intervention that is not in accordance with what the law and ethics allow”, he continued.
“The police officers first mentioned a fall of the two-wheeled vehicle, without contact with the police vehicle”, underlined the PP. “Returning to this first statement, they have since specified that there had been contact between the two vehicles, without it being established at this stage that this contact resulted from a voluntary or involuntary action”, he said. she reported.
According to the PP, “as soon as these new elements were brought to the attention of the prefect of police, and in accordance with the instructions of the Minister of the Interior”, the three officials were suspended.
They have also been in custody since Thursday, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The prosecution confirmed that three people were in custody, without specifying who they were.
“Concealment”
“The families are relieved but regret the organization of the initial concealment, the threats against the witnesses and the families”, reacted Friday with AFP Me Alimi. “They will file a complaint against all the police officers of the Paris police headquarters and their principals for forgery in public writing and obstructions to the manifestation of the truth”, he announced.
The woman witness claims to have been ordered by a police officer to erase videos she had made just after the shock. “An inspector clearly threatened me and said that I was going to have big problems and end up in police custody if I did not erase the videos,” she assured.
The lawyer filed a first complaint after the accident for attempted murder by a person holding public authority, with a weapon by destination, on minors.
“We don’t want to wage war on the police, we just want to know the truth,” said the eldest sister of the injured driver and 13-year-old boy on Thursday.
“It is necessary to be transparent about what happened, we need it to move on,” noted the mother of the third teenager.
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21/04/2023 19:52:31 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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