A municipal police officer opened fire and fatally shot a motorist on Tuesday, July 14, after he refused to comply and ran over the officer’s foot. The victim, 29, was a man known to the court and had recently been released.
One death due to refusal to comply. At around 2:30 a.m., on the night of Tuesday 14 July to Wednesday 15 July, officers from the municipal police of Pontet (Vaucluse) began pursuing the car after “refusing to comply,” the Avignon prosecutor’s office told BFMTV, confirming information from La Provence and Dauphiné Libéré.
After a second police patrol was stepped up, the motorist was subsequently “blocked at the Avignon-Nord-Vedun junction”, again according to the prosecution.
The victim “very recently” was released
During the operation, the latter made “several maneuvers”, as a result of which he crashed into a municipal police car and injured an officer who got out of the patrol car. The driver hit his foot.
“It was during these maneuvers that a municipal police officer fired a fatal shot,” the prosecutor’s office told BFMTV.
The victim was a 29-year-old man from the Aix region. The latter was known to the courts, in particular, for several acts of refusal to comply, and, according to the Avignon prosecutor’s office, was “very recently” released.
Two investigations were opened: one into “refusal to comply” and “violence with a weapon (vehicle, editor’s note) against persons in authority,” the other into “murder committed by a person in authority.”