This Wednesday, at the end of the day, a man died on the sidelines of a check by RTM agents in the Joliette station in Marseille.
According to the first conclusions of the autopsy, this man died of asphyxiation, after being overpowered on the ground by the controllers.
An investigation was opened for willful violence resulting in death without intention of giving it.
A man who, coming out of the metro, refuses to submit to a ticket control.
A few minutes later, the same man who died of suffocation in the Joliette metro station.
20 Minutes
takes stock of what happened this Wednesday at the end of the day on the RTM network in Marseille.
What is the starting point?
It is past 5 p.m. this Wednesday when a team of six RTM agents are checking tickets between the toll line and the platform of the Joliette metro station, in the second arrondissement of Marseille.
A man walking towards the exit of the station meets these RTM agents on his way.
This individual, "aged 37" according to the Marseille prosecutor's office, is trying to escape control.
"The man described as agitated, virulent and violent was brought to the ground and controlled by the agents of the RTM", writes the public prosecutor.
"The man, who was in an abnormal state, was virulent towards our agents, affirms to
20 Minutes
Hervé Beccaria.
There was then an exchange of blows.
"An agent of the RTM received a punch in the face", specifies
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a police source.
What did the controllers do after this incident?
According to Hervé Beccaria, “the agents notified the police and overpowered the individual while waiting for the police.
The six officers were found by others who were also there.
They were therefore ten, but there was no moulon [local expression for a lynching].
"
According to a police source, the police went to the scene shortly before 5.30 p.m., a few minutes after being alerted. “Six agents of the RTM blocked the individual with the imposing build, specifies this same source. He was on his stomach. There had been a stampede. An arm was sticking out. A colleague therefore took the opportunity to hand him the first handcuff. When he wanted to handcuff the second hand, he immediately realized that the guy was not well. He therefore asked to call the fire department urgently. The RTM agents seemed surprised. The police took his pulse, which was still beating, and the man was placed in the side-safe position. "
Comments confirmed by the prosecution in a press release.
“The police officers called in for reinforcement found, while trying to handcuff the individual, that he was inert.
Quickly taken care of by the firefighters, the individual died despite a long attempt at resuscitation.
"
"When the police arrived, the condition of the user who refused to be checked deteriorated, requiring the call of the firefighters," says Hervé Beccaria for his part.
Contacted, the CGT union representatives of the RTM agents remained unreachable this Thursday, despite our repeated requests.
The RTM specifies that it has opened a psychological support unit for the controllers involved in this case.
Who is the victim ?
According to
La Provence
, the deceased man is called Saïd and was 37 years old.
He had lived for ten years with his mother, an octogenarian living in the 9th arrondissement of Marseille.
The victim was "disabled and had mental retardation which prevented him from understanding things and expressing himself clearly," according to statements by the man's sister to our colleagues in the regional daily.
Where is the investigation?
An investigation was opened by the departmental security for willful violence resulting in death without intention of giving it, specifies the prosecution.
The agents of the RTM and the police officers who intervened on the spot were interviewed shortly after the facts, as well as this Thursday.
"The first conclusions of the autopsy show an asphyxia syndrome of undetermined mechanism at the time of the autopsy," indicates the Marseille prosecutor's office.
Additional analyzes are in progress.
"
Miscellaneous
Marseille: a man dies on the sidelines of a control in a metro station
Miscellaneous
Paris: Two men stabbed by a woman in the metro after a disagreement on the wearing of the mask
Marseilles
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