Police officer under investigation in Carcassonne: man thrown to ground, dies 13 days later
A national police officer in Carcassonne is under investigation for wilful violence after throwing a man to the ground on 21 June. The victim died 13 days later.
Police officer under investigation after violently throwing a man to the ground in Carcassonne
A national police officer is under investigation for wilful violence in Carcassonne, in the Aude department. According to France Info, a video shows him brutally seizing a man from behind and hurling him to the ground, his head striking the tarmac, during an intervention on 21 June. The prosecutor and the IGPN, France's police watchdog, have been notified.
The incident occurred on 21 June at 7:30 p.m., on the sidelines of the Fête de la musique. Police officers intervened at the foot of a building in response to noise complaints. Several young people present were intoxicated. Among them, Youssef, aged 29, approached a female police officer. It was at this moment that a national police officer seized him abruptly from behind and hurled him violently to the ground, head first against the tarmac. The man remained on the ground holding his head for several minutes.
The union version: a police officer in danger
Bruno Bartocetti, head of the South zone for the UN1TE SGO Police-FO union, offers an explanation for the officer's actions. "The police officer who suddenly confronts this individual did so quite simply because he was threatening towards my colleague. She was considered to be in danger, and the person was subsequently injured," he stated.
Youssef's family disputes this version. His lawyer, Me Hakim Djorfe, from the Perpignan bar, contends that the young man was simply approaching the female officer to retrieve his telephone. "This is someone who, when you watch the video, is not violent, he has nothing in his hands. So I do not understand this outburst of violence, particularly as the police officer intervenes from behind the victim. And that is what the family cannot understand," he said.
Death thirteen days after the incident, no link established with the intervention
Youssef died on 4 July at his encampment, thirteen days after the police intervention, from a heart attack. The autopsy, however, concluded overdose. No link between the police officer's actions and the young man's death was established by the medical conclusions.
The prosecutor described Youssef as homeless, a classification that his family contests. Me Djorfe condemns what he considers disproportionate violence in light of the footage, arguing that nothing in the victim's behaviour justified such a reaction.
Video released in the wake of another Carcassonne scandal
The person who recorded the video chose to make it public on Sunday 13 July, following the emergence of another scandal involving municipal agents in Carcassonne. The police officer visible in the images is the same one who made racist remarks in another video released a few days earlier.
An investigation was opened by the IGPN following the release of the footage. Youssef's brothers and sisters were interviewed at the police station the Monday following the video being posted online.
The case reflects a context of repeated criticism of the same officer, whose behaviour is now under investigation on several separate fronts.
Source: France Info