Two police officers from the river brigade are being referred to the Paris criminal court this Thursday for “involuntary manslaughter”.
On January 5, 2018, these two officials were in a boat with Amandine Giraud during an exercise by the Paris police headquarters.
After immersion in the Seine, the 27-year-old young woman never returned to the surface.
The search lasted several days, but it was only almost four months after the events that the body of the young woman was found, on April 30, 2018, downstream from the Pont des Arts and a few hundred meters from the scene. of disappearance. More than six years after the drowning of Amandine Giraud in January 2018 in the Seine, two police officers will be tried this Thursday before the Paris criminal court for “involuntary manslaughter”.
The policewoman, aged 27, disappeared on January 5, 2018, in the middle of winter, during an exercise taking place near Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral. This was organized a few days after the passage of storm Eleanor when the Seine was in flood. She was then with several colleagues, including the two police officers from the river brigade, who have now been arrested.
“There were obvious risks”
Just after the disappearance of the young woman, failings were indeed pointed out. The day after the events, and after the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation to “search for the causes of the disappearance”, entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), “police of police”, the Unsa- Police had requested the opening of an administrative investigation into the conditions in which this exercise was carried out.
“We want to know who decided to keep it going when there was no emergency and there were obvious risks. No one could ignore it. The weather was not good, the current was strong and the Seine had started to flood. The exercise could have been postponed”the deputy departmental secretary of the Unsa-Police union, Nicolas Pucheu, insisted to TF1info.
The police prefecture had assured for its part that the routine exercise in which the young woman participated was “planned and supervised”. Questioned by the media on the day of the tragedy, Philippe Caron, director of technical services at the Paris police headquarters, explained that the young woman was“working in the river brigade since September 1, 2016” and that she “had already fallen into difficult circumstances”. “The training was a fairly routine training” the official added.
“The truth was hidden from us”
However, at the end of April 2018, The chained Duckciting elements of the investigation, had assured the authorities of the opposite, revealing that the exercise was decided “on a whim, that very morning.” During the exercise, had detailed the weekly, the rope or “lifeline” which connected the young woman to an inflatable boat moored at the Quai de Notre-Dame “was detached from the boat following an error of judgment” of a monitor. The police headquarters “took six weeks” to temporarily suspend the monitor, the newspaper also revealed.
“The truth was hidden from us. At no time did the police headquarters tell us that a mistake had been made, that the instructor had given the order to release the lifeline. That is why I filed a civil suit“, reacted in the same article Elisabeth Quissac, mother of the victim, who had chosen at the time Me Eric Dupont-Moretti as lawyer. It is her former partner, Me Antoine Vey, who will be at her side at the hearing this Thursday.
“We have been waiting for this trial for more than 6 years. For her mother, as for her entire family, the death of Amandine Giraud is an indelible bruise. Amandine was a young police officer passionate about her profession. The circumstances of her disappearance are a tragedy absolute We hope that this trial will provide clear answers about the circumstances of this tragic death.the lawyer reacted to TF1info on the eve of the hearing.
The two officials face up to three years of imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
