The collision which seriously injured a teenager hit by the police in Elancourt could be accidental according to a video of the scene used by the IGPN. The teenager’s lawyer assures the contrary that the shock was intentional on the part of the police.
Accident or intentional collision? Two versions conflict on the circumstances of the clash between Sefa S., the 16-year-old teenager hit, and the police which occurred in Elancourt, in Yvelines, on September 6. While police sources indicated that the patrol vehicle which hit the motorcycle driver was not involved in this matter, the lawyer for the young man’s family said on the microphone of Franceinfothat on the contrary he was taking part in the chase.
A video of the accident exploited by the IGPN shows that the police car was traveling slowly and did not seem to be in intervention when it arrived at the scene of the collision. While in the same images, the teenager appears driving at high speed, without a helmet, and looking behind him, surely in the direction of the police who were trying to arrest him. Evidence that reinforces the hypothesis of an accidental collision. For his part, Me Yassine Bouzrou indicates that he relies on the testimony of a person who says he witnessed the scene. The two investigations opened into this matter must continue to uncover the truth about the circumstances of the tragedy. But to the investigations is added another procedure: the complaint filed by the family of Sefa S. “for attempted voluntary homicide which could unfortunately quickly turn into voluntary homicide”, according to the statements of his lawyer.
The police arrived slowly and the teenager was looking behind him according to the IGPN
According to evidence studied by the IGPN, in particular a video which filmed the collision shows that the police patrol which struck the teenager was slowly arriving at the intersection where the tragedy took place. According to the images of the same video, Sefa S. who was driving a motocross and was chased by another police vehicle was driving fast without slowing down and looking behind him when he arrived at the intersection. These elements support the thesis of an accidental collision.
However, Sefa S.’s lawyer and family contradict this version of the facts by relying on the testimony of an individual who says he witnessed the scene. “I assert that on the basis of a witness who was present, […] that he saw the police vehicle go at high speed in the direction of this motorcycle to hit it” advanced the lawyer on Franceinfoadding: “I also confirm to you that there was indeed a chase, that the police vehicles had their lights flashing and that the police vehicles wanted to intervene following an alleged refusal to comply. two police cars were clearly chasing this bike. That’s for sure.”
How did the accident in Elancourt take place?
Wednesday September 6, around 6:40 p.m., Sefa S. was driving a motocross bike when he hit a police car at an intersection between Elancourt and Maurepas, in Yvelines. The two-wheeler struck the left side of the vehicle. The police took care of the injured person then emergency services intervened before the young man was transported to Beaujon hospital in Clichy, in Hauts-de-Seine, in serious condition. Medical care prevented the death of the young man, but did not save him from brain death.
The 16-year-old was taking part in an urban rodeo that the police were involved in when he refused to comply, according to the representative of SGP Police Unit 78, Tony Vallée, on BFMTV. The teenager would have fled “twice” according to the same policeman. A first police car followed and tried to arrest the young man, but it was a second police car which hit the driver at an intersection, as stated The Parisian.
The reasons for the presence of this second vehicle have not been specified. The police on patrol were returning from another intervention according to the track which was advanced in the evening and a source of the Parisian assured that the young man “could have hit the car of an individual or other. It’s a total coincidence”. Near Franceinfoanother police source abounded, specifying that this other vehicle was not concerned by the intervention.
Two open investigations
Two investigations have been opened after the teenager’s collision with a police car in Elancourt. The first was entrusted to the territorial security of Yvelines and concerns the teenager’s “refusal to comply. The second carried out by the IGPN, the police force, was first opened for “unintentional injuries” was reclassified as “involuntary manslaughter by driver” after the erroneous announcement of the death of Sefa S. by the Versailles public prosecutor’s office. If two men, both drivers of police cars, were placed in police custody, they have since been released without legal action.
A legal treatment denounced by the lawyer for the teenager’s family. Me Bouzrou also considers Franceinfo that the prosecution and the prosecutor of Versailles “are handling this case in a totally scandalous manner” and are “not capable of managing this case properly”. Despite the opening of two investigations, the lawyer maintains that there are “almost no” investigations and requested the “relocation” of the file to another prosecutor’s office. He went so far as to denounce “a justice that does not respect the law”.
