Yvelines: a gendarme sentenced to six months in prison for manslaughter

Europe 1 with AFP 4:12 p.m., May 17, 2022

A gendarme was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to a six-month suspended prison sentence on Tuesday by the Versailles court, after the death of a man while in police custody in 2014 in the Yvelines.

This judicial police officer in a brigade was prosecuted for having placed the victim, aged 42 and heavily alcoholic, in a cell at very low temperature, between six and eight degrees, overnight.

His sentence has not been entered on his criminal record and he can therefore continue to perform his duties.

The prosecution had requested an eight-month suspended prison sentence.

Died of hypoglycemia in his cell

The victim, elected from a municipality in the department, arrested at his home for a hit and run following a minor road accident and drunk driving, died on the night of January 11 to 12. 2014 in a drunk tank in which she was placed around 7:30 p.m.

The man then had a blood alcohol level of 2.60 grams.

After a night spent alone in the cell without supervision, he had been found naked, lifeless, the following morning.

He died of hypoglycemia due to the combination of cold and his high blood alcohol level and an epileptic seizure, according to medical expertise.

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"It's not the result of chance"

"We put a man in custody when we do not have the means to do so, this death is not the result of chance, there was a fault on the part of the gendarme, because he had the choice not to not put him in this cell, and it was relieved by the court", reacted Me Olivier Fontibus, the lawyer for the family of the victim.

The gendarme, who denied any responsibility, assuring that he was not aware of the temperature, has ten days to appeal this decision.

The responsibility of the State was also recognized, because of the conditions of police custody in the barracks of the gendarmerie.