Death Of Adama Traoré
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Adama Traoré (; 19 July 1992 – 19 July 2016) was a black French man of Malian descent who died in custody after being restrained and apprehended by police. His death triggered riots and protests against police brutality in France, with new resurgence and resonance since the
murder of George Floyd On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black American man, was murdered in Minneapolis by Derek Chauvin, a 44-year-old White police officer. Floyd had been arrested after a store clerk reported that he made a purchase using a c ...
in the United States that some perceived as being under similar circumstances in 2020.


Arrest and death

On 19 July 2016, Adama Traoré's 24th birthday, Traoré was out with his older brother Bagui in the Paris suburb of
Beaumont-sur-Oise Beaumont-sur-Oise (, literally ''Beaumont on Oise'') is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. The classical cellist Jean-Henri Levasseur (1764–1823) was born in Beaumont-sur-Oise. Population Notable ...
. Police approached the pair, seeking to arrest Bagui for extortion with violence against a disabled woman. The officers requested to check their IDs, but Adama did not have his and fled. He was caught by officers, but fled again and was caught a second time. The officers locked a handcuff around one of his wrists, but Adama was having hard time catching his breath and requested a few minutes to rest, which they granted to him. At that point, one of the arresting officers was attacked and knocked to the ground by an unknown third party who fled the scene, allowing Traoré to escape again to hide in a nearby house. Three officers of the
National Gendarmerie The National Gendarmerie ( ) is one of two national law enforcement forces of France, along with the National Police (France), National Police. The Gendarmerie is a branch of the French Armed Forces placed under the jurisdiction of the Minister ...
found him hiding under a sheet without the handcuffs and pinned him down to arrest him. Following his arrest, Traoré stood up on his own but officers claim he seemed to be in some physical distress. He was taken to a police vehicle and then to the nearby police station, a journey that took 3–4 minutes. On arrival at the station, the officers noticed Traoré had urinated on himself and was unconscious but they stated that he was still breathing. The officers placed Traoré on the ground and called the emergency services. At that moment, Bagui, who had been handled by other officers, arrived at the station and upon seeing his brother on the ground he shouted: "Be careful with my brother, he has a health condition!". When fire service paramedics arrived and saw Traoré was no longer breathing, they called an emergency medical team from the SAMU who tried to resuscitate him. After an hour, Traoré was declared dead at the scene. After his death Traoré was found to have been in possession of €1,330 in cash and a bag of cannabis. Traoré had previously been convicted of various offenses – including rebellion and violence against the police, extortion, drug related offenses, and stealing – and had been incarcerated twice. He had been released from prison in May 2016, two months before his death. He has also been alleged to have repeatedly raped his cellmate while incarcerated, whom the French penal authority subsequently compensated.


Post-mortem reports

A total of four autopsy reports were issued for Traoré. Initially, experts failed to agree whether the cause of death was suffocation after the police pinned him to the ground, or other underlying medical conditions (such as
sickle cell disease Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited Hemoglobinopathy, haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the ...
) or
hyperthermia Hyperthermia, also known as overheating, is a condition in which an individual's body temperature is elevated beyond normal due to failed thermoregulation. The person's body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates. When extreme te ...
caused by the chase in a heat wave. Others suggested the possibility of presence of drugs in his body contributing to his death, but an initial
toxicology Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating ex ...
report on his vomit was negative for
marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...
and alcohol. An additional toxicology report showed a high concentration of THC in his system, demonstrating that he had consumed cannabis at most up to 12 hours, and likely within two to three hours, before his death. A French legal report in 2020 also maintained there was THC in his blood. The official medical report eventually listed heart failure as cause of death. A second autopsy commissioned by the Traoré family, however, listed asphyxiation from sustained pressure as the cause of death. Two hours after his death, his body temperature was measured at 39.2°C (102.6°F) which the arresting officers' defense attorneys claim to be proof of hyperthermia.


Aftermath

A lawyer specialized in police violence suggested that state
medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology and investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdicti ...
s will tend to try to protect the system and lack independence. A subsequent internal police investigation exonerated the officers. In interviews Traoré's sister has stated that she believes that his death was the direct result of excessive use of force by the police whereas the two autopsies and four medical reports ordered by the magistrates conclude that the police officers were not responsible for his death. On July 10, 2020, the magistrates in charge of investigating the death of Traoré ordered a new medical report but this time to be carried out by doctors in Belgium. His death sparked major protests in Paris,
Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
, and
Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...
under the slogan ''Justice pour Adama'' (Justice for Adama). The protests styled themselves after the American
Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...
movement, and similarly focused on the grievance voiced that
Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
and
Arab Arabs (,  , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...
communities in France suffer disproportionately at the hands of the police.


Legacy

Traoré became a major symbol for anti-police brutality activists. His older sister,
Assa Traoré Assa Traoré (born 1985) is a French-Malian anti-racism activist and leader of the Truth and Justice for Adama Committee, named after her half-brother, Death of Adama Traoré, Adama Traoré, who died in police custody, the circumstances of his de ...
, became an
anti-racism Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...
activist as a result of his death. Assa herself was sued for defamation by three police officers she accused of obstructing justice, with the trial commencing in May 2021. On 29 May 2020, French legal authorities released a final report clearing the three officers involved of wrongdoing and triggering renewed protests. Protesters also expressed solidarity with the
George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...
, which erupted in the United States and elsewhere in late May. Demonstrations in Paris,
Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...
, Lyon, and
Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...
honoured both Floyd and Traoré. On 2 June, over 20,000 protesters marched again in Paris, along with 2,500 in Lille, 1,800 in Marseille, and 1,200 in Lyon. A memorial rally originally planned for Saturday, 8 July 2023 in Beaumont-sur-Oise was banned by a court ruling fearful of a return of the urban violence that had shaken France in the preceding week. An unauthorized march took place in Paris the same day and was broken up by the BRAV-M, an
ÃŽle-de-France The ÃŽle-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
rapid reaction squad. An IGPN administrative inquiry has been opened into the circumstances surrounding the violence of the arrest of Yssoufou Traoré (Adama's brother), during which three journalists were also injured. The initial charges against Traoré were dropped shortly after he was transferred to the hospital on Saturday evening.


See also

Death of Abisay Cruz


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Traoré, Adama 2010s in Île-de-France Anti-black racism in France Black Lives Matter Deaths by person in France History of Val-d'Oise July 2016 in France Police brutality in Europe Race riots in France French people of Malian descent 2016 controversies Police brutality in France