Four police officers involved in the death of Cédric Chouviat following a traffic stop on January 3 in Paris were interviewed in police custody last Wednesday, prior to a possible indictment, we learned Monday from concordant sources . 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.
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Joined by AFP, Thibault de Montbrial, lawyer for the police, did not wish to react immediately.
The family of the victim requests a reclassification of the facts
On January 3, Cédric Chouviat, a 42-year-old father working as a delivery man, had suffered a heart attack near the Eiffel Tower after being tackled on the ground, helmet on his head, by three police officers during a tense roadside check, which had been filmed. A fourth policeman was present. Transported in critical condition to the hospital, he died on January 5 of asphyxia "with fracture of the larynx", according to the first elements of the autopsy communicated by the parquet floor of Paris, which had opened a judicial investigation for "manslaughter".
With supporting videos, the victim's family has since denounced a "police blunder" caused by "dangerous" arrest techniques. She claims a reclassification of the facts as "willful violence resulting in death", a crime punishable by assize, and the suspension of the police.
Their lawyers, Arié Alimi, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, announced the holding of a press conference Tuesday morning at 11 am. 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.