A six-month suspended sentence was requested Tuesday, May 23 before the criminal court of Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) against a police officer tried for a grenade launcher shot that injured an amateur videographer during a demonstration of "yellow vests". The prosecutor of Montauban, Bruno Sauvage, who considered that the criminal qualification of "assault and battery" was justified, also requested a six-month ban on carrying weapons for the defendant.
The facts took place on March 23, 2019, during act 19 of the "yellow vests", on the banks of the Canal du Midi in Toulouse during clashes between protesters and police, the victim, an amateur videographer now 48 years old, having been hit in the head by the shot of a tear gas grenade launcher. The offending shot was "not regulatory", said the prosecutor, evoking a "grazing" shot, "at the height of man" while these tear gas grenades must normally be fired in bell.
For the civil party, Me Claire Dujardin highlighted the fact that her client, who lost 30% of his hearing abilities, was "disabled for life". There is indeed "voluntary violence since it was a tense shot", she maintained, while Me Laurent Boguet, the lawyer of the policeman, pleaded the acquittal, considering that there was a doubt about the identity of the police officer responsible for the shooting.
The court's judgment is expected on July 11.