Paris driver, 42 in ‘Floyd-style’ death
FOUR French police officers are being investigated over the death of a delivery driver who was pinned to the ground and reportedly cried: “I’m suffocating” over and over again.
Cédric Chouviat, a 42-year-old father of five, died from a heart attack after being arrested following an altercation with police near the Eiffel Tower in Paris in early January.
French media outlets Le Monde and Mediapart say they have had access to the driver’s mobile phone recordings of the incident with police. Insults were exchanged on both sides over several minutes, and the dispute degenerated to the point where he was held to the ground wearing his helmet.
The arrest itself, involving three officers, lasted 22 seconds, during which Chouviat said “stop”, “I’m stopping” and then seven times the phrase “I’m suffocating”, according to news agency reports.
The scooter driver, from the northern Paris suburb of Levallois, was taken to hospital in a critical condition and was pronounced dead two days later. The results of a postmortem said he had suffocated with “fracture of the larynx”, and Paris prosecutors opened a manslaughter inquiry.
The four officers implicated were taken into custody on June 17 and questioned as part of the investigation. According to French media they have been summoned for more questioning in early July.
VIDEOS
Investigators are said to have analysed 13 videos taken of the scene, including nine filmed by the driver himself, three recorded by one of the four police officers present, and another from a motorist.
The officers have previously said they stopped Mr Chouviat for looking at his phone while riding his scooter, and for having a dirty licence plate, Le Monde reported.
Investigators will now decide whether the four officers should be charged over the death. None of the police officers involved in the case have been suspended. Their lawyer Thibault de Montbrial has declined to comment on the latest reports, AFP reported.
According to witnesses, who have spoken to Le Monde, the police officers held Mr Chouviat in a chokehold—- a controversial and potentially deadly form of restraint outlawed in many countries.
Mr Chouviat was a father of five. His family has accused the police of using “dangerous” restraint techniques, and that the violence against him was unjustified.
This month, mass protests against police brutality have been held all over the world, after the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis on May 25. In a parallel with Mr Chouviat’s pleas for help, Mr Floyd was also heard saying “I can’t breathe” as a police officer knelt on his neck.
In France, young black and Arab men say they are disproportionately the victims of police brutality. Following protests, the French government announced earlier this month that it was banning the potentially deadly chokehold technique.
However, they reversed this decision just a few days later after a backlash from police unions, who held demonstrations across the country.