the essential
Steve Maia Caniço drowned on the night of June 21 to 22, 2019 in Nantes, during the Music Festival celebrations. The 24-year-old fell into the Loire during a controversial police operation on unsecured docks. Commissioner Grégoire Chassaing, in charge of the operation at the time, is accused of involuntary homicide.
The affair aroused emotion and indignation. On the night of June 21, 2019, young Steve Maia Caniço, 24, died drowned while participating in the Music Festival in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique). This after-school activity leader had fallen into the Loire after a police intervention on the quays. Five years later, the trial of Grégoire Chassaing, commissioner who led the controversial police operation, opened Monday June 10 in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine). He is accused of manslaughter.
What happened ?
During the Music Festival on the night of June 21 to 22, 2019, sound systems broadcast music on Quai Wilson on the banks of the Loire, a practice tolerated until 4 a.m. But despite police intervention, the DJs refuse to turn off the music once the time comes. “Shortly after this time, the national police intervened to request a stop to the broadcast of the music, which was refused by the organizers of a wall of sound,” specifies the press kit. Disgruntled partygoers then threw various projectiles at the police. That evening, the police fired “33 tear gas grenades, 10 de-encirclement grenades and 12 shots from defense bullet launchers (LBD), reports West France. “During the evening, several people fell into the Loire from the quay,” according to the press kit.
The next morning, a young man no longer gives any sign of life. His mother reported him missing on June 23. It was not until July 29, and several weeks of research and mobilization of his loved ones, that a pilot of a river shuttle found the body of Steve Maia Caniço floating in the Loire. The investigation determined that Steve’s fall had taken place at a location on the platform without a barrier at 4:33 and 14 seconds, two minutes after the first shots by the police.
The disappearance of Steve Maia Caniço caused a great stir in Nantes. A year after his disappearance, on June 21, 2020, 4,000 people marched through the streets of the city during a white march in tribute to the young man.
What does the prosecution say?
“For the family of Steve Maia Caniço, it has always been clear that the person responsible, and the one who, I hope, will be found guilty, is Grégoire Chassaing in his capacity as responsible for commanding this operation,” believes Cécile De Oliveira, lawyer for the civil parties. According to her, he would have “without warning and in a disproportionate manner”, let his staff “use tear gas grenades in very large numbers near the Loire, while the quay is not protected by barriers and the wind is blowing this that night towards the Loire”.
What does the defense say?
For its part, Grégoire Chassaing’s defense will plead the accidental fall, without any link with the tear gas shots by the police, knowing that at 3:12 a.m. Steve sent an SMS to a friend stating “I’m too tired I have Need help”. “We believe on the basis of a certain number of reliable and consistent elements that Mr. Steve Maia Caniço, and it is tragic, it is absolutely tragic, fell alone, inadvertently, like five people before him at the during this evening, without any connection with the police and even less with Grégoire Chassaing”, declared Me Louis Cailliez, lawyer for the official, before the hearing.
What does the accused risk?
Grégoire Chassaing, 54, recently transferred as district head in Lyon, is the only person to be tried for the death of the host. The other persons or legal entities who had been indicted or placed under the status of assisted witness in this case, including the prefect Claude d’Harcourt or the socialist mayor of Nantes Johanna Rolland, all benefited from a dismissal of the case.
Around thirty witnesses and experts must be heard by the court, in particular six participants in the party including three who had fallen in the Loire, the two DJs and even a divisional commissioner cited by the defense. The defendant faces a sentence of three years’ imprisonment and a fine of 45,000 euros.
