The trial of a GIGN gendarme, accused of having unintentionally killed a 22-year-old young man during an intervention linked to burglaries, opened Monday February 19 before the Pas-de-Calais criminal court.
Alexandre B., group leader of a unit at the GIGN in Reims, is being prosecuted in Saint-Omer for
“violence by a person holding public authority leading to death without intention of causing it”
.
He is the author of a fatal shot in the neck of Henri Lenfant, aged 22, during an arrest on September 21, 2018.
“I acted.
I made my shot.
But my wish was not to kill the person but to save my life
,” he regretted in front of the fifteen relatives of the victim, some of whom were in tears.
The gendarme, sitting in uniform in the dock, was one of the soldiers called as reinforcements to Arras to investigate organized gang thefts during nighttime trips.
On the evening of September 21, 2018, his squad tried to arrest three people in a BMW, according to the account of the president of the criminal court.
While the passengers managed to escape, the driver, Henri Lenfant, remained behind the wheel with the engine turned off.
Dangerous behaviors
The police try to extricate him from the vehicle, but he refuses to come out.
On the passenger side, door open, Alexandre B. pulls the handbrake, kneeling on the passenger seat and tries, in vain, to remove the keys from the ignition.
Henri Lenfant restarts the car and suddenly accelerates while trying to push the gendarme outside.
Alexandre B., still kneeling on the passenger seat, ends of his legs in the air, insists on remaining in the vehicle.
Feeling in danger, he draws his gun and shoots.
The bullet lodged in the neck of the young man who died around 4 a.m.
The president of the criminal court stressed that the people accused were very violent, with dangerous behavior, ready to do anything to escape their arrest.
The gendarmes had been led to these members of a Travelers camp, of which Henri Lenfant was a member, thanks to the vehicles used during the burglaries.
During the four-day trial, the criminal court will work to determine whether or not the shooting was legitimate.
The gendarme risks up to 20 years in prison.