THE “intentional shooting“by the official was”neither necessary nor proportionate“, writes the public prosecutor in the indictment, revealed by Mediapart. The prosecution requested that he be tried by the departmental criminal court. Saturday March 26, 2022, Jean-Paul Benjamin, at the head of a goods transport company and in conflict with an intermediary from the multinational Amazon over unpaid invoices, stole a van full of packages from delivery men shortly after 12 p.m.
The van is reported stolen. On police radio antennas, the alert is given. A team from the BAC in Aulnay-sous-Bois spotted the vehicle, stopped at a red light in an avenue in the city. One of the police officers gets out of the car and walks towards the truck, without a visible police armband.
“No immediate threat”
Within three seconds, he moved up to the driver’s door of the van, backed up when the vehicle started again and fired. Hit in the shoulder blade, Jean-Paul Benjamin finished his race in the neighboring Beaudottes district of Sevran. The bullet passed through several vital organs and lodged in the liver, causing internal bleeding.
“There was no immediate threat to the safety of both (the police officer) and the users, motorists and pedestrians present nearby.“, estimates the Bobigny public prosecutor’s office. The public prosecutor also criticizes the fact that the police officer quickly intervened alone, without waiting for his colleagues to exit the BAC vehicle.
His lawyer, Me Thibault de Montbrial, did not wish to react. “Fatal shootings committed against drivers by police officers, including in the event of refusal to comply, constitute crimes punishable by a minimum of 20 years of imprisonment. The family welcomes these requisitions from the prosecution which also make it possible to establish jurisprudence in matters of police violence “, told AFP Me Arié Alimi, lawyer for the widow of Jean-Paul Benjamin and their two children.
In 2022, fatal shootings during police checks increased in the Paris region. The death of this popular father in the popular Beaudottes neighborhood led to several nights of clashes. The Bobigny prosecutor, Eric Mathais, held a press conference to announce the indictment of the police officer.
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