Speeding French teenager was ordered to stop and shot while trying to escape

This was the latest incident of alleged police violence against suspects (representative)

Caen, France:

French police questioned an officer on Monday after a 19-year-old was fatally shot as he fled from an attempted speeding vehicle arrest, prosecutors said.

It was the latest incident of alleged police violence against suspects, which has led to numerous protests in recent years. Critics accused the authorities of using harsh methods, particularly against minorities.

The young man was among three people in the car when police tried to stop them late Sunday near Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in western France, prosecutor Pierre-Yves Marot said in a statement.

The driver refused to stop and sped away before being forced to stop by a second police car.

All three vehicle occupants tried to escape.

One person was able to escape, another was arrested and charged with suspicion of robbery because the vehicle had been reported stolen.

“The third person, a 19-year-old from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, was attacked by officers from the second patrol and pushed against one of them while trying to escape,” the public prosecutor’s office said.

“The officer then used a stun gun,” while a colleague drew her service weapon and “used it, fatally striking him in the chest.”

The officer who fired the shot was still being held for questioning by the police’s internal department of the IGPN on Monday evening.

In June and July last year, there were violent riots in France after a police officer killed a teenager during a traffic stop outside Paris.

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