OMM Redaksiyası
An investigation has been launched in the French city of Carcassonne after footage emerged showing a police officer throwing a 29-year-old man to the ground. The incident occurred on June 21, during France’s Fête de la Musique celebrations.
The footage shows the officer grabbing Youssef E. from behind and throwing him onto the asphalt, causing his head to strike the ground. Youssef died 13 days later, on July 3.
The prosecutor’s office said investigators had so far found no causal link between the incident and the man’s death. An autopsy found no suspected traumatic injuries, while toxicological findings suggested that the death may have been caused by drug use.
The family of the deceased also said it did not link his death to the police officer’s actions. However, the family wants the officer to be held accountable for using force.
The Marseille branch of France’s police oversight body, the General Inspectorate of the National Police (IGPN), is investigating the possibility that a person exercising public authority intentionally used violence.
Carcassonne police previously under scrutiny
The incident occurred just days after four Carcassonne municipal police officers were suspended over another controversy. The suspensions followed the release of body-camera footage containing racist, misogynistic, homophobic and conspiratorial remarks.
In footage recorded during a patrol in November 2025 and released this month, officers can be heard making racist comments about Black people, Arabs and migrants. One officer also spoke about the possibility of a coup and dictatorship.
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez described the remarks as “unworthy” of the police uniform and ordered an inspection of the Carcassonne municipal police force. One of the officers implicated in that controversy also appears in footage of the intervention involving Youssef, although he was not the officer who threw him to the ground.
The two incidents have renewed long-running debates in France over police violence, racial discrimination and accountability within law-enforcement agencies.
