On April 8, a 33-year-old man died at the Béziers (Hérault) national police station where he had been taken by municipal police after his arrest. He could not have been saved. He would have been checked an hour earlier to see if he could justify his presence outside his home, on a city street, due to the curfew and containment measures.
An investigation into manslaughter was entrusted to the Montpellier police. On April 10, an autopsy was performed. If the conclusions will not be delivered for several days, indicates Raphaël Balland, the public prosecutor of Béziers, "at this stage, it may simply be indicated that none of the findings made on the body does not explain clearly the cause (s) of death ”.
White powder
Forensic pathologists have noted an absence of wound, an absence of internal bleeding as well as an absence of bone fracture. In addition, continues the magistrate, four "small pouches of a total of less than 2 g containing a white powder which will be analyzed" were found in an internal pocket of the victim's underpants.
The three municipal police officers, heard during a free hearing, had indicated that the victim would have "refused control and that he would have adopted towards them very aggressive behavior justifying according to them to proceed to his arrest", indicated the April 9 the prosecutor. “The man then strongly and long resisted the arrest. The municipal police officers found it difficult to handcuff him and then get him into the back of their vehicle while keeping him on his stomach. A municipal policeman would then have sat on the buttocks of the still very excited individual in order to keep him "until the police station, a few hundred meters away.
Already known to justice
During his transport to the police station, continued the magistrate, the man "would have calmed down", "the three police officers claiming to have heard him snoring, letting them think that he was asleep". According to the prosecutor of Béziers, a witness said that he witnessed part of the scene from his window: he would have confirmed "the state of excitement of the man arrested and the difficulty of the municipal police to control him".
When he arrived at the police station, the man was unconscious. Helpful gestures were then lavished on him by the police, then by the emergency services, in vain.
The unemployed victim is the father of three young children, whose custody has been assigned to his ex-partner. Known by the justice system, he had been sentenced eight times since 2005, notably for violence and theft. On April 7, he was presented to the Béziers prosecution, suspected of having stolen money from the hands of a person at the exit of an ATM. He was then sentenced to six months in prison, but without a warrant, says the prosecutor of Béziers.
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Béziers: 33-year-old man dies at police station after being arrested by municipal police
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