Video evidence contradicts French police position on shooting of Tunisian

NICE, France (AA) – A man shot dead by the French police on Wednesday in the city of Nice – trying to evade a search – did not attempt to accost the police, video footage has shown.

Police said they shot the man dead in self-defense after the individual refused to obey an order to stop.

However, footage filmed by a witness shows that the driver of the vehicle- a Muslim Tunisian national- was trying to flee by reversing when the police officer, who was on his left, fired and therefore he did not pose a direct threat to the security personnel.

The person next to the driver was arrested immediately after the incident and taken into custody for acts of “attempted homicide of a person holding public authority.”

According to the video, the passenger had already come out of the vehicle at the time of the shooting.

Two investigations have been opened, Maud Marty, the deputy prosecutor of Nice, told a press briefing.

The first was entrusted to the General Inspectorate of the National Police “to determine the circumstances in which the shooting took place” and the second to the criminal brigade of the departmental security for acts of “attempted homicide on a person holding public authority, refusal to comply and concealment of stolen vehicle.”

The two police officers were evacuated to the Pasteur hospital in a “state of shock” but without “serious injuries.”