Family Seeks Independent Probe into Teen’s Death During Police Chase

"As the family’s lawyer, I am asking the public prosecutor’s office to put this file under investigation, without the family having to take this step. An investigating judge must be appointed. This judge must be independent, with the power to investigate both for and against. In the circumstances surrounding the death of a young person involving police officers, it must be an investigating judge who conducts the investigation independently," said Alexis Deswaef to Belga.

The family’s lawyer says he does not want this investigation to be conducted exclusively by the public prosecutor’s office. For him, this is not a lack of confidence in the public prosecutor’s office, but is in everyone’s interest. "The investigating judge must also be able to entrust the P Committee, the police of the police, with investigative duties, in order to avoid it being colleagues of the police officers involved, even from the neighboring police zone, who conduct the investigation," Deswaef continued.

"Witnesses must be heard. People have come forward to the Adil family, starting with his friend who was with him just before the incident, but also an eyewitness to the accident," the family’s lawyer said.

Similarly, "technical experts should also be appointed to verify, for example, whether there are any braking traces or not, as well as the trajectories and speeds of the vehicles involved. We would also need to be able to hear the other motorists who were there and who witnessed the accident," Alexis Deswaef specified.