A police officer was indicted on January 11, 2024, suspected of having fatally punched a handcuffed 48-year-old man in the face during his arrest in August 2023 in Paris, the prosecution announced on Monday, January 13, confirming information from Liberation.
The peacekeeper, Théo M., now 28 years old, is being prosecuted for intentional violence resulting in death without intention of causing it. He was placed under judicial supervision “with a ban on coming into contact with co-perpetrators or accomplices, witnesses to the offense and the victim's family and on exercising their activity as a police officer on public roads”said the prosecution. Contacted by Agence France-Presse, his lawyer did not respond.
Tamer M., born in Israel and Palestinian, according to Liberationwas arrested by police on August 17, 2023, around 3:30 a.m., near the Gare de l'Est, in Paris, after a fight with several people. When they arrived on the scene, Tamer M., who was carrying a screwdriver, was overpowered by RATP security officers. He “had been brought to the ground after an arm lock from one of the agents, according to several witnesses who had not noticed any apparent injuries on his person”detailed the prosecution.
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“A state of coma observed”
« Virulent »et “Clearly drunk, he had been handcuffed and placed in the back of the police vehicle”according to the prosecution. The police officer explained that Tamer M., sitting next to him, “headbutted him”. He had it “rejected then he [avait] punched several times in the face.according to the same source.
During his hearing, “another member of the crew [avait] added that Tamer M. had hit his head against the door, and tried to [de] strike the peacekeeper sitting next to him; she pushed him away with her hand.”still according to the same source.
The two police officers then took him to the police station at 10e district and, according to their declarations, “Tamer M. had fallen asleep and snored during the journey”. He had not woken up when he arrived at the police station and presented “bleeding wounds” in the face. “He was taken to Lariboisière hospital, where he was found to be in a coma”continued the public prosecutor.
He died a week later, on August 24, 2023. “The autopsy concluded that it was “death from serious craniofacial trauma””according to the prosecution. The Paris public prosecutor's office opened an investigation and then a judicial investigation on August 31, 2023, entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police.
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