Sharjah 24 – AFP: A teenager riding a scooter and his adult passenger were killed in France after an encounter with police, just weeks after the shooting of a youth by an officer sparked a wave of riots.
In the latest incident, police sources say the scooter fled at the sight of a police patrol that was preparing to stop it in Limoges, western France, with officers giving chase before abandoning the pursuit.
Police say the scooter then ran a red traffic light and collided with a car, killing the teen rider instantly and injuring the adult passenger, who died of his injuries in hospital.
Limoges city hall said the car was carrying a father and his young children, who were "shocked and traumatised".
On the city's General Leclerc avenue, a major thoroughfare lined with residential buildings, the roadway was strewn with sawdust and crosses indicating the positions of the bodies, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
One of the crosses, surrounded by traces of blood, was 30 or 40 metres (yards) from the point of impact between the two vehicles.
Police sources said that the pair were riding a powerful Yamaha TMAX scooter and that police "quickly put an end" to their pursuit, "judging the situation too dangerous".
The Limoges prosecutor confirmed police accounts of the event in a statement, adding in a statement that the police car was "at least 150 metres" away from the scooter at the time of the crash, according to witness testimony.
The prosecutor's office said the driver was a 17-year-old, whose scooter insurance certificate had expired, while the identity of the passenger has yet to be confirmed.
Two investigations have been opened, one for the refusal to comply aggravated by deliberate endangerment and the other for manslaughter.
The incident comes just weeks after France was engulfed by its worst rioting in years following the police shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old of Arab origin, during a road stop.
For an optimal experience, please
