The police officer was placed Wednesday evening in police custody for «twenty-four hours, renewable once», Nice deputy prosecutor Maud Marty told AFP.
But, for the relatives of the victim, «it is obvious that we are (dealing) with a homicide, there is no discussion on it», pleaded Me Sefen Guez Guez, their lawyer, in a reaction to the AFP.
The policeman’s reaction «is clearly disproportionate», insisted this lawyer from the Nice bar, co-appointed with Me Ouadie Elhamamouchi to defend the victim’s family: «whatever the circumstances or the reality of his behavior previously, he does not There was no danger of death that justifies killing this man in cold blood».
Shortly after the tragedy on Wednesday, Anthony Borré, 1st deputy mayor of Nice, said that the victim, «a Tunisian in his thirties who had been living in our region for a year, was driving without a license in a stolen vehicle. registered in the Var».
According to Me Guez Guez, the driver, aged 24, resided «in Nice in a regular situation», just like his family.
According to the Departmental Directorate of Public Security (DDSP), the police had spotted this driver on the Nice expressway, «zigzagging dangerously», around 4:30 p.m. After accelerating and taking an exit ramp, the driver then allegedly crashed into the police car «several times».
One of them, down on the road, would then have fired, «once» according to another police source. The driver, despite attempts at resuscitation, died at the scene.
– «No danger of death» –
According to videos posted Thursday on social networks, the driver, blocked by a police car in front, reversed before trying to disengage and restart. But he is then again blocked by the police car in front. It was at this moment that the policeman, gun in hand and standing near the vehicle, fired through the driver’s side window.
When the policeman intervenes, «there is no mortal danger which justifies that we kill this man», estimated Me Guez Guez to AFP, also deploring that «since (Wednesday) the authorities ( have) not contacted the mother to warn her of the death of her son while the police unions express themselves and give a rarely contradicted police version».
Asked about these videos Thursday morning on Franceinfo, the director general of the national police, Frédéric Veaux, spoke of the «weight and violence of certain images»: «In a case like this, it’s the whole of the action that must be analysed. What happened before, in the environment. The perception that the police may have had of it at the time of the intervention», he underlined, referring to the «difficult, complex» investigation that has been opened.
The Nice affair came just hours after a 22-year-old woman was killed and a 26-year-old man injured in Rennes, again by the shooting of a police officer, during an interception carried out in the part of an anti-drug operation.
«The French police unfortunately are increasingly faced with situations for which they are obliged to implement means to protect themselves, to defend themselves, to put an end to a certain number of offences», added Mr. Veaux. “But it is never the police who are at the origin of what is happening,” he assured.