Will we ever know what really happened to Adama Traoré, who died in the courtyard of the gendarmerie of Persan (Val-d'Oise), on July 19, 2016? The more time passes, the more this perspective seems to move away. Unlike the agony of George Floyd, filmed in near real time by passers-by, that of the young Frenchman has not been documented. Everything, or almost everything, is based only on testimonies, and on a succession of expertise.
The only certainty: the death of Adama Traoré, pronounced two hours after the start of a chase first on a bicycle, then on foot, was caused by an asphyxial syndrome. Its causes, on the other hand, are more vague. Was the asphyxia caused by a previous pathology or by a possible ventral plating?
For the young man's family, it is his arrest that is responsible for the death of their loved one. For the gendarmes, the asphyxiation is the consequence of a cardiac malaise, after too intense an effort in the flight. Each trying to scientifically validate their version of the story. Back on this waltz of expertise.
2016, two contradictory expert reports
A first autopsy conducted on July 20, 2016 does not identify the "immediate cause" of death. The medical examiner does not note any trace of violence, but evokes "an asphyxial syndrome" - without being able to determine the cause - and observes "lesions of infectious appearance", in particular in the lungs and the liver.
Pontoise's prosecutor, Yves Jannier, quickly gives a press conference. He mentions "a very serious infection" on "several organs", but omits to mention the "asphyxia syndrome", however highlighted in the report. An error fueling the distrust of the Traore family, which will cost him the file, disoriented in Paris.
On July 26, a second autopsy was performed by a college of experts, at the request of the family. This time, there is no question of infection. Asphyxiation, on the other hand, is confirmed. Experts request an anatomo-pathological examination to specify the causes.
2017: expertise leaving too much room for interpretation
An initial anatomopathological examination (on the victim's organs), made in September 2016, revealed cardiomyopathy, a congenital malformation which results in a large volume of the heart, "exposing Mr. Traore to the risk of sudden death".
This thesis was swept away on July 3, 2017 by an anatomopathological counter-expertise. She concludes that the large size of Adama Traoré's heart is due to his intensive sports practice. According to doctors, death is consecutive "to an acute asphyxiation state, linked to decompensation - on the occasion of an episode of exertion and stress - from a previous multifactorial state". "Cardiomegaly" (enlarged heart) and inflammatory disease are also detected.
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But experts do not comment on the question that everyone is asking: was the asphyxia syndrome - whether or not linked to an already existing frailty - triggered by the gendarmes during the arrest? This expertise is so nuanced that it is regularly cited by lawyers for both parties, those of the family and those of the gendarmes.
2018: synthetic expertise clears the gendarmes
A year later, an expert report was commissioned, with the task of synthesizing the previous reports. Rendered in September 2018, it dismisses the responsibility of the gendarmes, and advances a new cause of death. The 24-year-old young man's "prognosis" was already "irreversibly engaged", even before the gendarmes arrested him.
The four experts believe that the combination of sickle cell anemia (a very common genetic disease) and sarcoidosis (a rarer inflammatory disease) caused the asphyxia syndrome. With as triggers, the stress and the effort of the escape, under a scorching heat. In support of their conclusions, the testimony of a man with whom Adama Traoré had hidden to try to escape from the gendarmes. The fugitive, "breathless", "could not speak" and "breathed loudly", had reported this witness.
In light of this expertise, disputed by the family, the examining magistrates are trying to close their investigations. But that was without counting on the persistence of the Traoré family, whose numerous requests for deeds prolong the procedure.
2019: the counterattack
The family responded by ordering a new expert opinion from four medical professors, specialists in the mentioned diseases (none of the doctors who participated in the previous expertise were indeed experts in these conditions). They dispute the previous conclusions, going so far as to question the medical ethics of their authors.
The thesis of sickle cell anemia combined with sarcoidosis is based on "theoretical speculation", pummels this report. "The death of Mr. Adama Traoré can not be attributed either to stage 2 sarcoidosis, nor to the sickle cell trait, nor to the combination of the two," say the specialists. Who call to "ask the question of positional or mechanical asphyxia".
2020: a new hypothesis
Courts order new expertise. Another hypothesis then surfaced. In their conclusions, the three doctors believe that Adama Traoré died "of a cardiogenic edema". This pathology, they argue, could be the result of the combination of three factors, already mentioned previously: "Pulmonary sarcoidosis, hypertrophic heart disease and a sickle cell trait". All this, "in a context of intense stress and physical exertion", and "under high concentration" of cannabis.
The second opinion, ordered by the family, was not long in coming. Carried out in five days by a specialist in sarcoidosis, it confirms the thesis of "cardiogenic edema", but completely contradicts the previous report on its causes. This edema, argues the doctor in his conclusions rendered on June 2, was caused by "positional asphyxia induced by the ventral plating". Almost four years after the tragedy, the assumptions accumulate and the file seems to be on the spot.
