Killing of Nahel Merzouk

On 27 June 2023, Nahel Merzouk (also spelled Naël), a 17-year-old French youth of Maghrebi Algerian descent, was shot and killed by the police in Nanterre, a suburb of Paris, France. Merzouk is alleged to have "disobeyed and committed several traffic offences, endangering the lives of a pedestrian and a cyclist", and also refused to turn off the ignition, upon which one of the officers shot him as he was attempting to speed away with his car making contact with the police officer. In France, there is legal basis for the police to use firearms during traffic stops under failure to comply. Authorities arrested the police officer who shot Merzouk, on suspicion of "voluntary homicide by a person in authority". Merzouk was known to the police for previous incidents in which he failed to comply with traffic stops.Initial reporting on the incident, informed by police statements, was later contradicted by a video posted online, which led to...