French police shot dead teenager fleeing control

The young man was one of three people in the car on Sunday evening when police tried to arrest them near Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, in western France, public prosecutor Pierre-Yves Marot said in a press release.

The driver refused to stop and fled the scene before being forced to stop by a second police car.

The three occupants of the vehicle attempted to flee.

One person escaped while another was arrested and charged with grand larceny because the vehicle had been reported stolen.

“The third person, a 19-year-old from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, was confronted by agents of the second patrol and hit by one of them while trying to flee,” said the prosecution.

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

The police officer who fired the shots was still detained Monday evening for questioning by the IGPN, the police internal affairs department.

France was rocked in June and July last year by violent riots following the killing near Paris of a teenager by a police officer during a road check.

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