Teen dies after traffic collision with French police
A 16-year-old boy died late on Wednesday following a collision between his scooter and a police vehicle west of Paris, police sources said, just over two months after a teen's fatal shooting by police sparked a week of riots.
The deceased is accused of failing to comply with officers, a police source said, adding that he was being "followed at a distance" by a police car through Elancourt, a town around 30 kilometres outside Paris.
He collided with "another police vehicle" at an intersection, the source added, with a second police source telling AFP the crash happened at around 6:40 pm.
The teenager was initially revived from respiratory and cardiac arrest by first responders and brought to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors in Versailles have opened probes both into the teen's alleged refusal to comply and another into involuntary homicide at the wheel, with two officers held in custody and questioned by internal affairs colleagues over the second investigation.
Extra police have been deployed to Elancourt, a town of 25,000 people, to forestall any potential unrest, a police source said.
The death comes a little over two months after 17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead by a police officer at a traffic stop in Paris suburb Nanterre.
The officer initially claimed that Nahel failed to stop, but a video of the point-blank shooting spread online, sparking outrage and rioting across France in an echo of past episodes of unrest triggered deaths of young men with migrant backgrounds in encounters with police.
The riots saw clashes with security forces, widespread looting of shops and businesses and fires set at public buildings including schools and town halls.
By the end of August, almost 4,000 people had been arrested and 2,000 sentenced, according to government figures, while police internal affairs officers were investigating 33 cases of suspected police violence.
Insurance industry association France Assureurs on Wednesday estimated the total damage from the riots at €730 million - 90 percent from damage to businesses and municipal buildings.
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The deceased is accused of failing to comply with officers, a police source said, adding that he was being "followed at a distance" by a police car through Elancourt, a town around 30 kilometres outside Paris.
He collided with "another police vehicle" at an intersection, the source added, with a second police source telling AFP the crash happened at around 6:40 pm.
The teenager was initially revived from respiratory and cardiac arrest by first responders and brought to hospital but later succumbed to his injuries, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors in Versailles have opened probes both into the teen's alleged refusal to comply and another into involuntary homicide at the wheel, with two officers held in custody and questioned by internal affairs colleagues over the second investigation.
Extra police have been deployed to Elancourt, a town of 25,000 people, to forestall any potential unrest, a police source said.
The death comes a little over two months after 17-year-old Nahel M. was shot dead by a police officer at a traffic stop in Paris suburb Nanterre.
The officer initially claimed that Nahel failed to stop, but a video of the point-blank shooting spread online, sparking outrage and rioting across France in an echo of past episodes of unrest triggered deaths of young men with migrant backgrounds in encounters with police.
The riots saw clashes with security forces, widespread looting of shops and businesses and fires set at public buildings including schools and town halls.
By the end of August, almost 4,000 people had been arrested and 2,000 sentenced, according to government figures, while police internal affairs officers were investigating 33 cases of suspected police violence.
Insurance industry association France Assureurs on Wednesday estimated the total damage from the riots at €730 million - 90 percent from damage to businesses and municipal buildings.
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