Some 150 people gathered on the evening of Friday, August 6 in Marseille to denounce the circumstances in which a 19-year-old driver was killed by a police officer during a traffic check, noted an AFP journalist.
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Sad and angry, residents and relatives of Souhail El Khalfaoui, father of a 14 month old child, gathered in a square in the Belle-de-Mai district, a few meters from the street where the young man was shot dead by a policeman.
“
Souhail had a name, he was not a bandit, he had a family who loved him.
We have come to restore his dignity,
"said her aunt, Samia El Khalfaoui, who criticizes the attitude of the police officers who, according to her, did not come to the aid of her nephew, while videos, seen by AFP , show residents trying to provide first aid and call the fire department.
According to a police source, the driver had been checked Wednesday evening following a first check carried out the day before during which he had refused to comply and slightly hit an assistant police officer.
"He
was not a saint but he did not deserve to be shot dead
"
Spotting the parked car on Wednesday, officials approached it to check it, but the driver reversed and struck a police officer.
Also according to this police source, while he was making a new maneuver to leave, a peacekeeper used his weapon at the door and fatally hit the young man.
A passenger was at his side.
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“
The policeman was not in self-defense. My nephew asked to call his mother to present the vehicle papers which he was refused. He then wanted to leave, but he was parked at a standstill,
”Samia El Khalafoui told AFP. "
We did not need to shoot him almost at close range,
" insisted the young woman. “
We have the impression that the investigation is already closed. There are a lot of things unclear,
”added an uncle, Shems El Khalfaoui.
"
Two judicial inquiries were opened on the evening of the facts,
" Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens told AFP. The first, for "
intentional homicide
", entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police, targets "
the death of the young driver
". Its purpose is to "
determine the conditions for the opening of fire by one of the police officers when one of his colleagues was struck by the vehicle and thrown to the ground
". The second relates "
to the conditions under which the young man who died
" used his vehicle "
against the police carrying out the check
". It was entrusted to the judicial police.
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"
Nothing justifies that a police check degenerates into a fatal act
", had reacted the lawyer of the family, Me Emmanuel Molina, by denouncing what is similar "
to a blunder
".
"
The young man was known from the legal point of view mainly as a minor but also more recently,
" the Marseille prosecutor's office told AFP.
“
Fights and a few bars of hash.
He was not a saint but he did not deserve to be shot dead
, ”according to his family.