The case was judged discreetly at the very beginning of the morning on Wednesday December 4, 2024 at the Niort courthouse: an official of the national police of the same city was convicted of the offense of “violence with a weapon by a person holding the “public authority having resulted in total incapacity for work of more than eight days”.
At the opening of an appearance hearing on prior admission of guilt, the guilty plea in other words, this peacekeeper received a six-month suspended prison sentence: this mention will not appear on bulletin no. 2 of his criminal record.
The case of this 54-year-old agent was studied in a separate room, “publicly” et “open doors”, ceci “to avoid contact with other defendants, among whom were people arrested by this police officer”, specified the public prosecutor of the city-prefecture of Deux-Sèvres, Julien Wattebled.
Thirty days of total incapacity for work
The facts date back to the night of Saturday August 27 to Sunday August 28, 2022 in the hypercenter of Niort. The suspect used tear gas at point blank range and directly in the eyes of a young man.
This one, a Niortais now 41 years old, had almost lost the use of his left eye, saved thanks to a surgical procedure including a graft. A forensic doctor then gave him total incapacity for work for a period of thirty days.
“Neither necessary nor proportionate”
The scene took place after a drunken evening. Having started in a bar in the city centre, the festivities continued, for a whole group, within a real estate agency. Around 4 a.m., a police patrol intervened to put an end to it: outrageously, the first party-goer ended up being arrested.
The victim was sprayed with tear gas when she wanted to speak with the police. A use “neither necessary nor proportionate” finally recognized the peacekeeper concerned before the General Inspectorate of the National Police, contacted by the Niort public prosecutor's office.
