This is also the story of Nahel, the young man who died Tuesday in Nanterre, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Paris, but told from the other side. We are at the same point in Nelson Mandela Square in Nanterre, where he received the shot that ended his life. It is the story of the policeman who shot him. Currently in pretrial detention, little information has come out about him, but it is known that he was 38 years old, is the father of a family, had been in service for several years and had received some recognition for his work in the National Police.
He currently worked at the Territorial Directorate of Traffic in Hauts de Sena, the department to which Nanterre belongs. According to the TF1 chain, he had received some awards for his work during the crisis of the yellow vests, the protest movement that marked the first term of Emmanuel Macron.
In the video that recorded what happened and that circulated on the networks on Tuesday, you can see how the agent points a gun inside the car where Nahel is going at a checkpoint. The vehicle starts moving and that’s when he shoots. It is this same agent who gives first aid to the young man. He died “from a single shot that pierced his left arm and chest from left to right,” according to the prosecutor’s account.
In his statements, the policeman has justified his action in “the desire to prevent a new escape from the vehicle and the danger of the driver’s behavior.” He has also said that he “was afraid someone would be hit” or that his partner would be hit or injured by the movement of the car.
The prosecutor has clarified, however, that “the conditions for the use of the regulatory weapon were not met.” Police unions have criticized the Government for not having respected the presumption of innocence of their partner. The prefect of the Paris Police, Laurent Nuñez, indicated at first that the agent “had the confidence of the hierarchy.”
Efforts have been made to protect his identity to prevent his family from reprisals, although several people have posted his address on social media and have since been convicted. The agent is accused of voluntary manslaughter. On Wednesday he was taken into police custody, the prosecutor requested his entry into pretrial detention on Thursday and he was jailed that same afternoon.
His lawyer has said on television that his client “did not intend to kill the boy”, that he “is devastated” and apologizes to his family. “He doesn’t get up in the morning thinking about killing people. He didn’t want to kill him,” justified his lawyer, Laurent Franck Liérnard.
Regarding the wave of violence that has caused the death of Nahel, he recalled that the policeman is already in prison and said: “The problem of public order should stop with his imprisonment, but it is not the case (…) What do they want more? Do they want their heads cut off in public?”, he lamented in statements to the BFM chain.
His client “understands that it has served as a wick. The reality is that the rain calms the rioters more than Justice. They will not stop because my client is detained. The proof is that this continues.”
According to the criteria of The Trust Project