A 16-year-old boy declared brain-dead after a collision between his scooter and a police vehicle west of Paris has died in Turkey, where he had been transferred for treatment, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a lawyer for the boy’s family on Tuesday.
The family had taken the youth, identified as Sefa, to Turkey late on Sunday for treatment at a private clinic in İstanbul.
“I confirm that young Sefa died yesterday [Monday] in Turkey,” lawyer Yassine Bouzrou told AFP, saying his death resulted from a “collision caused by a police vehicle that violently blocked the road in order to arrest him.”
Police had initially said the teenager had died after the collision late Wednesday, but prosecutors said later that he had been left brain-dead.
He had allegedly failed to comply with officers, with police sources saying he was “followed at a distance” by a police car through Elancourt, a town around 30 kilometers (20 miles) outside Paris, and collided with “another police vehicle” at an intersection.
Prosecutors in Versailles have opened probes both into the teen’s alleged refusal to comply with police and another into involuntary manslaughter.
Two officers were taken into custody and questioned by internal affairs inspectors over the second investigation, but released on Thursday, the prosecutors 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 control in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.
A video of the point-blank shooting spread online, sparking outrage and rioting across France in an echo of past episodes of unrest triggered by deaths of young men with migrant backgrounds during 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.