The lawyer representing the family of a 17-year-old who was shot by police in a Paris suburb in June 2023 says the officer responsible for his death was not in danger, following a reconstruction of the events that sparked a week of riots across France.
Speaking on RTL radio this Monday, lawyer Nabil Boudi said that the police officer who shot Nahel M. in Nanterre on 27 June 2023 was not in mortal danger.
The claim comes a day after a reconstruction of the events that led to Nahel's death was staged in the Paris suburb.
According to Boudi, who represents Nahel's mother, "The reconstruction was based on ... and what we can see on the videos is that the police officer was not in danger. Consequently, the use of his weapon was not necessary".
Video sparks riots
The footage, posted on social networks, shows the two police officers on the side of the vehicle, pointing their weapons at the driver.
One of them shot him as the vehicle starts up again and the car then crashed into a concrete block a few dozen metres away.
Its posting on social media a few hours after Nahel's death contradicted the police version, which said that the young man had run into the motorcyclist.
The images of Nahel's death triggered a wave of riots across France, leading to the deployment of 45,000 officers backed by light-armoured vehicles during the protests, while special police units and other security forces fanned out across the country to quell violence.
#France #Nahel #Police #Policiers extrait sept à Huit 1/2 pic.twitter.com/g5WONgeCUa
— DTC🇨🇵✡️❤️🇮🇱Z🚀🐓🥖🥐🍇🍷🏰👨🚒🚒👮♂️🚓☢️ (@DTCFrance) October 23, 2023
Police claim their lives were in danger
The 38-year-old officer, identified only as Florian M., has been charged with voluntary homicide, but was released from custody in November after five months in detention ahead of his eventual trial.
Both police officers maintain that their lives were in danger because they were trapped between the car and a wall.
Recalling that the initial version of the police officers had changed, Boudi called on "everyone to draw the consequences" of this change of version.
He said that his client, Nahel's mother Mounia, had experienced a "particularly painful" moment as she was in the presence of the police officers during the reconstruction on Sunday, but that "there was some relief for her".
Investigators call for reenactment
On Sunday, vehicles were brought to the barricaded-off area for the reconstruction – including a yellow car resembling the Mercedes that Nahel was driving on the day of his death – with two passengers aged 14 and 17 on board.
In the presence of their lawyers, Florian M., the officer on duty with him and several witnesses were questioned at the scene by the investigating magistrates, who want to establish whether the officers were in danger when the shot was fired.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the reenactment.
