Five years after the incident, the Lyon Criminal Court is examining a case that has become emblematic of criticism of the handling of police violence. A police officer, tried by direct summons, is accused of seriously injuring a 14-year-old boy in Villeurbanne on December 19, 2020, during the outbreak of riots following the accident of a young scooter rider.
Two irreconcilable versions
The complainant, now 18, still describes the same scene: grabbed by the shoulders, forcibly spun around, and then struck in the face with a tear gas canister, which allegedly exploded on impact. Taken into custody with a bloody mouth and several broken teeth, he insists he never took part in the clashes. The police officer, however, claims the boy was throwing projectiles. According to his account and that of two colleagues, the canister accidentally detonated against the teenager's back, who then fell face down. The officer, an athletic forty-something, says he has no vivid memory of the arrest and denounces the "relentless pursuit" that brought him to justice after the case was initially dismissed.
Deficiencies in the investigation highlighted by the plaintiff's defense
The young man's lawyers denounced an "unacceptable act" against "a child measuring 1,62 meters and weighing 57 kilos," and highlighted the forensic pathologist's conclusions, which they deemed consistent with his account. Above all, they criticized an initial investigation described as botched: the failure to interview the police officers involved, the unexplained disappearance of the gas cylinder, and the rapid closure of the case. An investigator from the departmental police's disciplinary and ethics unit acknowledged in court the paltry resources of her department, which was then responsible for seventy cases per year for the entire Lyon region. The lawyers, supported by the NGO Flagrant Déni, also pointed out that a surveillance camera monitored the scene, but that its footage was never used. The teenager's mother, shocked to discover her son's swollen face upon his release from police custody, filed a complaint in December 2020. But the initial investigation focused primarily on prosecuting the young man for "incitement to armed rebellion," after his bloodied face was posted on social media. A verdict is expected on October 7, at the end of a trial that calls into question both a police officer and the effectiveness and independence of the system responsible for assessing police violence.
