“This is a decision that we do not understand and which we are appealing immediately”reacted to AFP the lawyer for the police officers, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard. Aged 30 and 33, the two police officers were also banned from carrying weapons for five years. During the trial at the beginning of October, the prosecutor requested a year in prison for them under electronic surveillance.
The court considered that the police “could notcould take advantage of article 435-1 of the internal security code “, which governs the use of weapons by the police because they were “not not in uniforme » nor equipped with“badges and armbands (…) visible » during this nocturnal intervention. “ Furthermore, there is no self-defense when you have used your weapons either. », added Dominique Pittilloni, president of the 14th criminal chamber of the Bobigny court, highlighting a “ disproportion between the shots which seriously injured the victims and the behavior of the driver ».
Nordine, the driver of the vehicle, shed a few tears while listening to the deliberations. Hit by five bullets in the abdomen, arms, groin, femoral artery and thorax, he was prescribed 127 days of total incapacity for work (ITT). He has since been disabled and lost 10 centimeters in one of his arms. Bullet fragments remain in his body.
Merryl, the passenger, was shot through, had her spleen removed and had 100 days of ITT. “ Merryl is satisfied that the guilt was found, she finds that the ban on exercising the profession of police officer is adapted to the facts », Declared to AFP his lawyer Me Marine Allali, describing this decision as “unprecedented”.
“Legalist vision”
« For the future, on the way in which police officers have the right to use their weapons, it is important that the court adopted a purely legalistic vision of article 435-1 », Estimated Nordine's lawyer, Me Margot Pugliese. For his second lawyer Vincent Brengarth, “ justice has finally been done for Nordine, in a case that began with his accusation and a complete imbalance in the procedure ».
In an ancillary procedure arising from the same facts, Nordine was sentenced on appeal to two years in prison for aggravated refusal to comply and willful violence. The crew of the Stains anti-crime brigade (BAC), in civilian clothes and in an unmarked car, carried out this check on the night of August 15 to 16, 2021, in Seine-Saint-Denis.
An amateur video widely distributed on social networks captured part of the intervention which followed an initial exchange between the officials and the drunk driver. One of the police officers tries to enter the passenger compartment of the car. The driver engages reverse. The two police officers fired several times, aiming at the motorist. Eight bullets are fired in 6.25 seconds.
The two brigadiers used their weapons for the first time. During the trial, they insisted that they considered that their lives were in danger. “ Wouldn't it have been better to let the vehicle go? »the president asked them.
« First, I tried to stop the driver (…). When I make the decision to use a weapon, I have no choice », replied the police officer who fired three times. “We never wanted things to happen like this”his colleague explained. The intervention took place 30 minutes before their end of service.
