Paris: what we know about the death of a passenger in a car, shot and killed by police denouncing a refusal to comply

One dead and one seriously injured. This is the heavy toll of a police check, Saturday June 4, in Paris. Police officers opened fire on a vehicle which refused to comply in the 18th arrondissement, according to the police. The driver suffered serious chest injuries and the front passenger died of head injuries on Sunday. Two investigations have been opened. Here is what we know about this case. Police officers open fire denouncing a refusal to comply The facts took place on Saturday June 4, at the end of the morning in the 18th arrondissement, in the north of the capital. During a police check for failure to wear seat belts, four people fled in their Peugeot 207. The driver then ran into the crew of police on mountain bikes, according to a police source at franceinfo . Around 10:45 a.m., two police officers used their administrative weapon to stop the car, at the foot of the Butte Montmartre, at a crossroads at rue Clignancourt and rue Custine. According to a source familiar with the matter, officials fired nine times at the vehicle. One of the police officers was hit by the car and suffered a superficial wound to his left hand and a swelling in his right knee. A passenger is dead and the driver is seriously injured The driver and the passenger seated in the front were seriously injured by police fire and were both taken to hospital. The passenger, shot in the head, died of her injuries the next day, Sunday, in hospital, franceinfo learned from the prosecution. The driver of the car, hit in the chest, was released from intensive care on Sunday and his vital prognosis is no longer engaged, but he still remains hospitalized. Aged 38, he no longer had his driver’s license and was prohibited from obtaining a new one after offenses, franceinfo learned on Monday from a source familiar with the matter. Without a fixed address, he was also the subject of an active search card prohibiting him from possessing or carrying a weapon subject to authorization for five years. The other passengers in the vehicle were not injured Two other people were present inside the vehicle, at the back, during the shooting. They weren’t hurt. According to information from franceinfo, it is a 21-year-old young woman and a 37-year-old man, at least one of whom is known to the police. They said they used alcohol and cannabis. According to the passengers, the driver refused to stop during the police check because he did not have a license. An investigation by the IGPN opened, three police officers in custody An investigation targeting the police has been opened, entrusted to the IGPN (General Inspectorate of the National Police). The three officials, two men and a woman, have been interviewed since Sunday afternoon in the offices of the IGPN for “violence with a weapon by a person holding public authority”. Their custody was extended for “violence resulting in death without intention to give it by a person holding public authority”. “This measure is taken because of the seriousness of the consequences of the shots made and in order to verify the conditions of use of their weapons by the persons concerned”, explains the prosecution to AFP. Their custody can last 48 hours. These facts come a month and a half after the indictment for “voluntary homicide” of a police officer, suspected of having killed with an automatic weapon, on the night of April 24 to 25, the driver and the front passenger of a car that would have forced a check on the Pont-Neuf in Paris. Another open investigation, targeting the occupants of the car A second investigation was also opened, targeting the occupants of the car for “attempted homicide on persons holding public authority”. She was entrusted to the Paris judicial police. In this context, the driver of the vehicle was placed in police custody Monday for “attempted homicide” on police officers, announced the prosecution. This was quickly lifted, “the person concerned ultimately not being able to be heard at this stage”, specified the Paris prosecutor’s office to franceinfo. Political chain reactions These events caused several political personalities to react, less than a week before the first round of the legislative elections. “Another unacceptable abuse of power. The death penalty for refusing to comply. The prefect approves? The minister congratulates? When is the shame?” Tweeted Saturday evening Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of Insubordinate France. “Jean-Luc Mélenchon persists and signs with his anti-police dogma and his complacency with delinquency”, replied the departmental councilor Les Républicains des Alpes-Maritimes, Eric Ciotti. Jean-Luc Mélenchon persists and signs with his anti-police dogma and his complacency with delinquency. Now he takes the defense of an individual who refuses to comply having deliberately rushed into the police on bicycles. pic.twitter.com/dmPCpSpUOA — Eric Ciotti (@ECiotti) June 5, 2022 The next day, Sunday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon added on Twitter: “The police are killing and the factious group Alliance justifies shooting and death for “refusal to comply”. When is shame?” Following these remarks, the police union Alliance announced that it was going to file a complaint against the leader of La France insoumise. “The police, the gendarmes deserve respect (…) Insulting them dishonours those who want to govern. Let the investigations be done without using them as hostages of an electoral campaign”, reacted for his part the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin.