None of the findings made on Friday on the body of the thirty-something deceased Wednesday in Béziers (Hérault) after his arrest by the municipal police has at this stage made it possible to explain the causes of death, the prosecutor's office said on Friday.
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Two forensic doctors from the medico-legal institute of Montpellier carried out Friday the autopsy of the body but the precise conclusions "will not be drawn up until next week", specified the public prosecutor of Béziers Raphaël Balland in a press release .
"At this stage, it may simply be indicated that none of the findings made on the body makes it possible to explain in an obvious way the cause (s) of death", continues the magistrate, specifying that the pathologists noted the absence of wound , internal hemorrhage or bone fracture.
"The final medico-legal conclusions will depend in particular on in-depth examinations of the organs (anatomopathology), as well as toxicological expertise, the results of which will not be known for several days or even weeks", underlines Mr. Balland.
Eight times sentenced
The investigation of open flagrance of the head of manslaughter continues under the authority of the Béziers prosecution and has been entrusted to the departmental security of Montpellier.
The 33-year-old man died Wednesday night in Béziers, shortly after his arrest by the city's municipal police, the first death in France following a control of containment measures. Convicted eight times since 2005 for violence and theft, this man with a course characterized by great instability, had according to the three municipal police "refused their control" and "resisted" the arrest.
According to their statements, the man was transported to the national police station in Béziers in the back of a vehicle on his stomach, handcuffed, with one of the municipal police officers sitting on his buttocks "in order to maintain him" .
When they arrived in the courtyard of the police station, "the individual arrested was unconscious" and could not be revived, the prosecutor said on Thursday.
Presented as homeless by the Departmental Human Rights League, the man, born in Béziers, one of the poorest cities in France, was unemployed and father of three young children. He was according to the prosecution domiciled with his sister.
Health emergency
As part of the fight against Covid 19, the Law of March 23, 2020 allows municipal police officers, alongside national forces, to ensure compliance with containment measures during the state of emergency sanitary.
"In the event of an arrest by the municipal police, the latter must contact the (national) police station from the place of arrest and the on-call judicial police officer (OPJ) then decides to be surrendered or not, the person arrested, "said the prosecutor AFP.
