Four years in prison - double the sentence imposed at first instance - were required on Tuesday October 11 against a motorist seriously injured by police bullets in Stains in August 2021, retried on appeal in Paris, for aggravated refusal to comply.
The hearing took place in a packed room with a heavy atmosphere and in the presence of the three police officers, civil parties in this trial.
Nordine A. “
knew very well that they were police officers
”.
"
In reality, he did not want to comply (...) his will, as always, was to do battle with the police
", scolded the general counsel, criticizing "
an exacerbated context because we make these refusal to comply with a fight against the police who are only doing their job
”.
The magistrate requested four years in prison with a warrant for the 38-year-old man, appearing before the Paris Court of Appeal for violence with a weapon (the car he was driving being considered a weapon by destination) and aggravated refusal to comply.
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Viral amateur video
On February 18, 2022, he was sentenced at first instance in Bobigny to two years in prison and imprisoned, before being released for medical reasons.
In a separate investigation in Bobigny, which stems from the same facts, two of the three police officers – those who had fired – were indicted and placed under judicial supervision in September and October for intentional violence with a weapon.
On the night of August 15 to 16, 2021, around 1:30 a.m., a BAC crew intervened to check a vehicle.
On board, two people: the driver and his passenger, lying on the back seat.
The police try to control the car but it, first immobilized near the police, backs up and then goes forward again.
An amateur video, massively shared on social networks as it seems to be taken from a film, partially shows the intervention, one of the officials trying to enter the passenger compartment and two police officers firing several times in the direction of the car.
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Nordine's vital prognosis is committed with absolute urgency, he was injured five times, in the abdomen, arms, groin and chest.
At the rear, Merryl, his companion, is seriously injured in the back and is prescribed 100 days of ITT.
One month pregnant, she loses the child.
Nordine, who was then a temporary bus driver, can no longer work and still has to undergo operations.
"relentlessness"
On Tuesday, the man, his arm in a sling, was on the dock.
Could he have known that he was dealing with the police, that night of August 15 to 16?
There was neither armband nor flashing light, he insists at the bar, straight in his white shirt.
“
I have been checked several times during my life, at no time were the police unidentifiable
,” he says, admitting to having backed down, out of fear according to him.
“
Did they do anything specific, did they threaten you?
asks the police lawyer, Me Laurent-Franck Liénard.
"
It's worse than threats, three people trying to force their way into a car
," replied the defendant.
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“
It has been said several times
” that they were police officers, retort the officials, who indicate that they initially wanted to “
do prevention
” with the drunk driver.
Merryl's first hearing a few hours after his operation has also been the subject of debate.
She declared there that Nordine knew that he was facing the police.
"
I do not recognize myself in this report (report)
", she insisted at the bar as a witness, emphasizing a state of drug sedation.
A 41-year-old childcare worker, she appeared very affected, having to sit down to testify.
“
We accuse Nordine of refusing to comply (…) whereas what he wanted to do that evening was that we could escape because we had the feeling that we were caught in a trap
”.
In his argument, Nordine's lawyer Me Axel Metzker asked the court to release Nordine, denouncing a "
form of lynching, of relentlessness
".
“
We want to make an example of
it,” he said.
The decision will be rendered by the Court of Appeal on November 29 at 1:30 p.m.