A police commander was sentenced Friday, November 27 in Toulouse, on the basis of a video broadcast on social networks, to 4 months suspended prison sentence for having gassed a quadriplegic in a wheelchair during a demonstration of yellow vests.
"
This case shows that the video is essential in the context of a trial involving a police officer,
" the victim's lawyer, Me Claire Dujardin, told AFP.
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On March 2, 2019, this official who headed the Toulouse Security and Intervention Company tore off the gas mask worn by a disabled person in a wheelchair to protect himself during a gathering of “
yellow vests
”.
While the latter had brought his motorized chair closer to the police officer to ask him to return his mask to him, the official had gassed him at close range with a tear gas canister.
"
The video was taken by a citizen on his balcony and it is thanks to its distribution on social networks that the public prosecutor of Toulouse seized the IGPN
", added Me Dujardin.
Referring to the scandal of the beating by police officers on Saturday of a black music producer in a Parisian music studio, the lawyer stressed that "
broadcasting is as important as filming
" in such cases.