A police officer has been placed under investigation after a video was published showing him throwing a person of migrant origin to the ground in Carcassonne, a city in southern France. The incident occurred on June 21 of this year, during the Fête de la Musique in France, but the author of the video decided to publish it after racist, homophobic, and misogynistic conversations of another local officer were leaked.
The assaulted person, identified only by his name, Yousef, was 29 years old and died 13 days later from an overdose. So far, “there is no causal relationship between the filmed events and the subsequent death,” according to a statement from the local Prosecutor’s Office obtained by the newspaper Le Monde.
The officers went to the scene in response to a noise complaint, according to France Info. The video shows Yousef approaching a police officer before another grabs him by the shoulders from behind and throws him to the ground. Upon falling, he hits his head, while the rest of those present shout at the police, who surround him. Yousef remains holding his head for several minutes until the officers lift him up.
The video was published after a scandal broke last week due to the leak of racist, homophobic, and misogynistic conversations by an officer of the local law enforcement in the same city. Coincidentally, he is one of the officers who lifts Yousef off the ground after the assault, according to the French press. This officer, a 50-year-old former soldier, accidentally recorded more than six hours of conversation with his body camera, believing it was off. The leak has prompted an inspection of the Carcassonne Municipal Police by the General Inspectorate of Administration (IGA).
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The Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation “as soon as it had access to this video” showing the assault, according to the statement. A representative of the police union UN1TÉ defended that the officer “considered that his colleague was being threatened and that he was in danger,” in statements to France Info.
The case adds to a long series of controversies in France over the excessive use of force and discriminatory practices by some officers, especially against young people of immigrant origin. The death of Nahel Merzouk, 17, shot by a police officer during a traffic stop in Nanterre, triggered several days of riots in 2023. In June of this year, the Defender of Rights — the equivalent of the ombudsman in Spain — Claire Hédon, concluded that the shot that killed Merzouk was “in no way necessary or proportionate.” That same month, two riot police officers were sentenced in Nice to prison terms (18 and eight months suspended, respectively) and disqualification (five and two years) for the assault on a 23-year-old man that occurred in April. The incident was also recorded and shared on social media.
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