Reconstruction Fails to Explain Death of Man Arrested During COVID Lockdown in France

For three years, justice has been trying to determine the conditions of the arrest, care and transport of Mohamed Gabsi, arrested by three municipal agents during the first lockdown and who died after his arrival at the Béziers police station. Guillaume L, one of the three agents, was indicted for "intentional violence resulting in death without intent to kill by a person holding public authority", while his two other colleagues were indicted for "failure to assist a person in danger", reports Le Parisien.

According to the medical examinations carried out on the evening of his death, Mohamed had consumed a significant dose of cocaine, "potentially lethal in itself", but "a sustained pressure with a certain force in the cervical region, probably with a knee or elbow", caused "an asphyxiation syndrome", leading to the young man’s death. "Nothing I did justifies a bruise," insisted Guillaume L. at Tuesday’s hearing, requested by the defense and the civil party, before a possible referral to the assizes.

On April 8, 2020, Mohamed Gabsi, father of three children, suffering from schizophrenia and convicted eight times, would have refused the control of the three municipal agents while he was walking, in possession of a derogatory certificate dated 5:00 p.m., according to the version of the agents who did not think to trigger the body camera at the time of the facts. At Tuesday’s hearing, the police officers described a victim who was under the influence of drugs and would have resisted his arrest, giving "punches and kicks".

Guillaume L. said he sat in the back of the car on the wrists and buttocks of the arrested person to hold him on his stomach. A version denied by two witnesses, two brothers, who observed the scene from their balcony. The police officer would have "grabbed the arrested person with an arm around the neck", then would have put his knees on his "nape", while telling him "shut up, I’m going to make you sleep". Guillaume L. had denied these facts during a confrontation with the two witnesses, in February 2022. The judge will close his investigation after the submission of the expert report and the reconstruction of the medical examiner.