Paris.- The third occupant of the car that the young Nahel was driving when he was shot dead by police in the French city of Nanterre on June 27, whose whereabouts have been unknown since then, turned himself in to the police to give his version of events. .
Police sources and the Nanterre Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that this 17-year-old, who had made statements to various media in recent days about what he saw and heard, must give a statement to the investigators of the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN).
Justice has opened an investigation for voluntary manslaughter, which is the charge for which the brigadier who shot Nahel was charged and sent to provisional prison on the 29th, when an attempt was made to jump a police checkpoint in this city from the outskirts of Paris.
The testimony of this third occupant, like that of the second, who was arrested immediately after, will be confronted with those of the two policemen.
Before introducing himself, this young man, of whom it has been revealed that he has a history of skipping some control like Nahel himself, had told the media that they were driving a rental car when two policemen on motorcycles began to chase them.
When the car had to stop in a traffic jam, one of the officers demanded the driver, who did not have a license, to roll down the window and stop the engine.
According to the third occupant of the car, he threatened to shoot him if he did not do so and hit him with his weapon, causing Nahel to release his foot from the brake, whereupon the (automatic) car started up. It was then that the policeman fired.
The Police Prefect, Laurent Núñez, has denied this testimony, stating that Nahel first stopped the engine but then started it up again to try to flee and it was in those circumstances that the fatal shot was fired.
The now imprisoned agent had initially maintained that he fired because the car, by fleeing, endangered his integrity and that of his partner. However, the images recorded by a witness called into question that story.
The riots that were unleashed from that incident in Nanterre have led to the arrest of more than 3,200 people in the last six nights throughout France, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said Monday during a visit to the city of Reims. .
In statements to the media, he stressed the “firmness” with which action is being taken to deal with these riots and stressed that “this is unprecedented” and that the response “is a demonstration of Republican force.”
