On February 9, 2019, in the middle of the afternoon, while Mélodie B. moved away to escape the tear gas fumes during a demonstration of yellow vests in which she participated in Lyon (Rhône), she heard behind her a detonation.
A gunshot, immediately followed by a violent pain behind the right knee.
The injury will leave him with a 40 cm hematoma and 10 days of ITT.
For this 37-year-old teacher-researcher, there is no doubt: she was the victim of a shot from a defense bullet launcher, commonly known as LBD.
This injury led the protester to file a complaint.
A criminal complaint is dismissed for lack of being able to identify with precision the shooter in the ranks of the police.
However, the investigation revealed that in response to demonstrators who threw projectiles at the police, two LBD40 launcher shots had indeed been fired, one missing his target, a man in a hood, to reach another protester in leg.
" It was me!
»Explains Mélodie B. who considers having been the victim of a« blunder ».
The first classification without continuation of her case does not discourage her, she decides to sue this time the Ministry of the Interior before the administrative court of Lyon.
"The State must be condemned to repair"
It is this file that the administrative court of Lyon examined this Thursday, November 12.
And for the public rapporteur, responsible for requesting, the responsibility of the State is well engaged in that the Yellow Vest did not commit any breach: the police officer committed a fault.
"All the elements of the file agree to say that this demonstrator was wounded by the bullet of LBD", estimated the commissioner of the government, "the State must be condemned to repair".
For Mélodie, this opinion of the public protractor, which is generally followed at 90% by the court, already sounds like a victory.
"Apart from my personal case, it is about the freedom to demonstrate", asserts the teacher.
“I have been the victim of gratuitous violence and this kind of situation affects the freedom to protest because people are afraid of being hurt.
It is politically very important to fight against this kind of police blunder ”.
A situation that she also considers too common and rarely followed by legal action.
"People do not dare to file a complaint, because when it is done, it is a long process made up of hearings, medical visits and often classifications without follow-up."
"There is a reluctance to deal with this kind of file, it's obvious," sums up Lionel Perrin, of the Committee against police violence.
"Recognize the dangerousness of the weapons used"
At the Lyon administrative court, which was examining for the first time the use of LBD during a demonstration of yellow vests, Me Yannis Lantheaume, Mélodie's lawyer, also pleaded to “recognize the dangerousness of the weapons used”.
Which, if the court acceded to his request could also create a first.
READ ALSO>
Yellow vests: mutilated by grenades or LBD shots, these "broken faces" tell
In the meantime, well decided not to stop there, the lawyer intends, with his client, to appeal the dismissal of the first criminal complaint or to seize the dean of the examining magistrates with constitution of civil party by asking for further investigations into what happened on February 9.
Newsletter - Most of the news
Every morning, the news seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
The administrative tribunal's decision will be rendered within two to three weeks.
