On January 5, 2020, Cédric Chouviat, a 42-year-old French delivery man, died after his arrest by Parisian police after using his cellphone while on his scooter and contempt of a police officer. A coroner later ruled that he had died of

asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects all the tissues and organs, some more rapidly than others. There are m ...

and a broken

larynx The larynx (), commonly called the voice box, is an organ (anatomy), organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration. The opening of larynx into pharynx known as the laryngeal ...

. During the arrest, after Chouviat called one of the officers "a fool" and an officer went behind him and locked his arm around Chouviat's neck causing him to fall to the ground. While on the ground officers continued to restrain him and handcuffed him, during which he suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and was administered aid after officers noticed his skin turning blue.

Incident

Police reportedly stopped Chouviat, as it appeared that Chouviat was using his cell phone while driving his mobile scooter, near the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

on January 3. In one of the videos Chouviat, can be heard mocking the police officers who stopped him by calling them "clowns" and stating that "without your uniform, in the street you are nothing at all". His comments caused the officers to insult and mock Chouviat with one officer threatens to arrest Chouviat for insulting the officers, while another is recorded shoving Chouviat multiple times. Once the officers arrest Chouviat, they reportedly used a chokehold to subdue him with three other officers pinning him to the ground while Chouviat was wearing his

motorcycle helmet A motorcycle helmet is a type of helmet used by motorcycle riders. Motorcycle helmets contribute to motorcycle safety by protecting the rider's head in the event of an impact. They reduce the risk of head injury by 69% and the risk of death by 4 ...

. During the arrest, Chouviat is recorded as stating "Stop", "I'm Stopping" and repeatedly stating "I'm suffocating". The incident was documented in at least thirteen different videos that were filmed by Chouviat, bystanders and one of the officers involved in the arrest.

Investigation

On January 7, the Paris Public Prosecutor opened a judicial inquiry for

involuntary manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, and the organization that investigates the police also opened an investigation into the death. A lawyer for two of the officers involved in the arrest claims that the motorcycle helmet worn by Chouviat muffled his voice enough that they did not hear his comments and when shown the videos, the officers were "surprised and devastated" by the audio.

Response

Lawyers for the Chouviat family released statements at a press conference, calling for the public to maintain calm and that "France isn't the United States, but France is becoming like the United States." The lawyers highlighted the main concern is the techniques that were used by police on Chouviat that caused his death. His family have called for the ban on the use of chokeholds by French police and have compared his death to 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 ...

, with his widow stating; "You have a citizen who's asking to live and is a victim of injustice and violence to the point of losing his life. Its copy-paste." The death of Chouviat was specifically referenced by French Interior Minister

Christophe Castaner Christophe Castaner (; born 3 January 1966) is a French politician who served as Minister of the Interior from 16 October 2018 to 6 July 2020 under President Emmanuel Macron. He had been elected in 2017 for a three-year term as chairman (''délég ...

when he announced a ban on the use of chokeholds during police arrests in early June 2020, but after a string of protests from French police the ban was removed weeks later. The death of Chouviat bore many similarities to that of George Floyd a few months later in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA. However, unlike in the Floyd case there has been little protest or publicity.

References

January 2020 in France {{DEFAULTSORT:Chouviat, Cédric Filmed killings by law enforcement Deaths from asphyxiation Deaths in police custody in France Deaths by person in Paris 2020 in Paris Killings by law enforcement officers National Police (France)