This was the outcome Nora feared, as the police officer against whom her complaint was filed had never been charged. In March 2021, four years after the facts, this official, summoned by the investigating judge, had been placed under the status of assisted witness. The magistrate therefore issued an order dismissing the case. The civil party decided to appeal.
This case was initially closed before being reopened at the request of the Attorney General of Versailles (Yvelines) in 2019 who considered that from the beginning this case presented "many questions (...) as to the respect by the forces of law and order for strict proportionality and the absolute necessity of the means of defence".
The 36-year-old mother blames an officer of the anti-crime brigade (bac) of the Élancourt police station (Yvelines) for having injured her on the night of June 24 to 25, 2017 while she was crossing a children's playground with her husband and her 8-month-old baby in a cozy downstairs from her parents' home, Square Gérard-Philipe in Trappes.
A patrol was attacked by a group of young people
The defensive bullet fired by the policeman's flash-ball hits his left arm which she put over her baby to protect him. Result: 21 days of total incapacity for work (ITT). In her fall, she injured her elbow and neck. His biceps has a "2nd degree and 3rd degree burn in roundel on the outer side" - according to the medical certificate.
A few months later, there will be complications with an abscess that sends him urgently to the operating room. And she becomes addicted to painkillers. The day after the events, she filed a complaint with the IGPN, the general inspectorate of the national police.
That night, the police were on the alert. A patrol was attacked by a group of youths and an official was lightly injured by a projectile. They describe urban violence made of throwing stones, bottles, and fireworks.
The police officers of this crew all used enough to repel the attackers. One a tear gas grenade, another the cougar, a law enforcement weapon sending grenades and the third, this 40 mm LBD (defense ball launcher) shot. Version that was, according to the instruction, confirmed by radio exchanges and video surveillance images.
A firing distance "well above the required safety distance"
In the middle of the games, the family faces these three agents. Nora announces, "I have a baby, I have a baby." But the policeman shoots. Law enforcement says Nora intervened to protect rioters, including her brother. She has always disputed that. The couple always explained that there were no young people on the playground.
The peacekeeper in his report that Le Parisien was able to consult describes him "about fifteen young people" who, seeing the car of the ferry, begin to pick up objects to throw. If he and his colleagues decided to intervene it was to disperse this small group, he said. In front of the judge, Nora will say that there were "fireworks" everywhere but no young people in the square. The officer explained that he felt threatened and said he was sorry to have caused this injury to Nora.
The ballistics expertise carried out in February 2023 says that this policeman was at a distance between 13 m and 16.85 m. A firing distance "much greater than the required safety distance" - more than 10 m -, insists the judge who, in fact, considers that the use of LBD in a context of urban violence, on a closed square where the "possibilities of disengagement appeared limited" was justified, even if Nora was not targeted. The magistrate, who also notes that "the civil party and her husband heard as a witness remained silent on the circumstances in which the shooting took place", therefore retains self-defense to explain the gesture of the police officer.
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"This order of dismissal is absolutely incomprehensible legally, especially with the highlighting of the justifying fact that is self-defense, reacts Me Ilyacine Maallaoui, Nora's lawyer. The peacekeeper indicated that he clearly intended to target an individual who was picking up a projectile. This statement is incompatible with the Forensic Identity report which states that the passage of the couple in the company of an infant in a cozy could not escape the police. The council adds: "Beyond the factual misunderstanding remains a legal misunderstanding. Self-defence is based on extremely precise criteria. »
The policeman's lawyer, seeing this dismissal looming, explained last June that his "client [was] relieved". Contacted by Le Parisien, he did not wish to comment on this outcome.
