The four police officers implicated in the death of Cédric Chouviat were interviewed in police custody this last Wednesday, we learned Monday from concordant sources. This 42-year-old father, working as a delivery man, suffered a heart attack after being tackled to the ground, helmet on his head, by three police officers during a tense roadside check. A fourth policeman was present. Transported in critical condition to the hospital, he died on January 5 as a result of asphyxia "with fracture of the larynx", according to the first elements of the autopsy communicated by the parquet floor of Paris.
The officials were heard at the request of the investigating judge by the IGPN (General Inspectorate of the National Police). The latter, in charge of the investigation, sent the judge the results of his investigations and interrogations. It is now up to the investigating magistrate to decide to summon the police for possible prosecution. Thibault de Montbrial, a lawyer for the police, did not wish to react immediately.
"We will take all necessary sanctions"
The victim's family had denounced a "police blunder" caused by "dangerous" arrest techniques. She calls for a reclassification of the facts as "willful violence resulting in death", a crime punishable by assault, and the suspension of the police. A few days after the facts, the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, had estimated that the autopsy results "(raised) legitimate questions, to which answers (should) be given in all transparency". "If there are faults which are characterized, we will take all the necessary sanctions", had promised the minister.
Society
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- Police violence
- Interpellation
- Cedric Chouviat
- Society
- Paris