The trial of three police officers, tried for the death in 2015 of a man, Amadou Koumé, during his arrest with a choke key, opened on Monday June 27 in Paris.
"
It is the life of a man and more exactly the death of a man, that the court will speak
", declared the president of the court, before reading the offenses for which the officials of 45, 47 and 62 years old must appear for three half days.
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On the night of March 5 to 6, 2015, the police were called to a bar near the Gare du Nord in Paris, because of the agitated behavior of a man obviously suffering from mental disorders.
During the arrest, a police officer from the Anti-Crime Brigade (BAC) had carried out two choke keys on Amadou Koumé, the first for a few seconds and the second for nearly two minutes while he was held on his stomach. , face down and hands behind your back.
In total, Amadou Koumé remained in this position for more than six minutes.
He was then transported in a police car and his death was pronounced at the police station.
The final medical expertise conducted during the investigation concluded that he had succumbed to "
pulmonary oedema
" caused by "
slow mechanical asphyxia
".
She added that "
the cervical and laryngeal trauma
" caused by the strangulation key had "
participated in the occurrence of this asphyxia
", also "
promoted
" by its immobilization on the ground.
“Failures” and “negligence”
The police officer responsible for the strangulation keys had been indicted for "
willful violence resulting in death without the intention of giving
it", which could have led him to the assizes, but he was finally returned to court for manslaughter, like the other two defendants.
The police are judged for "
failures
" and "
negligence
": they are accused of "
poorly controlled gestures
" and the continuation of the prolonged immobilization on the ground of Amadou Koumé when he "
no longer presented any danger to others
» and this, without «
inquiring about his state of health
».
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The name of Amadou Koumé is one of those chanted during demonstrations against police violence in recent years.
The wife of Cédric Chouviat, who died in January 2020 during a police check there too with a choke key, as well as Amal Bentounsi, founder of the collective "
Urgence la police assassine
", must testify at the trial on Tuesday.
A controversial technique, the choke key, banned in the gendarmerie and officially replaced since July 2021 in the police, is at the heart of several investigations opened after the deaths of men arrested.