In Memory of Sydney

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In Memory of Sydney

Why Did Sydney Have to Die ?

LIBERATION, November 25, 1998

"Tourcoing Dwells on the Death of Sydney: Six Policemen, Who Had Apprehended the Young Man, Have Been Indicted," by Hughes Beaudouin.

He died for a side mirror. It occurred November 6 at Tourcoing (Nord). Sydney Manoka Nzeza, who was on rollerblades on the sidewalk, hit the side mirror of a vehicle. Between the driver, a retired policemen, and Sydney, the tone rose rapidly. Was it a neighbor, who watched the scene from her window, or the driver himself who called the police? The investigation has not yet found out, it seems. In any case, two policemen rapidly arrived on the scene and tried to arrest Sydney, who fled. Four more policemen from the Tourcoing Anti-Crime Squad caught up with him after a two kilometer foot pursuit and immobilized him on the ground. The young man, unconscious and handcuffed, was then taken to the main police station. Thinking he was faking, no one worried particularly about his condition. Nonetheless, upon arrival at the main police station, the facts were evident: Sydney was dead, asphyxiated as the result of a thoracic compression, the forensic doctor would establish later.

A judicial investigation was immediately begun. The six policemen were indicted, two for non-assistance to a person in danger and four for second-degree murder and non-assistance to a person in danger. Among these latter, three were suspended November 20 by the Minister of the Interior, "while awaiting the results of the investigation". A measure, the Ministry explained, destined also to calm the Tourcoing youths who maintain a rather tense relationship with their city's main police station. Since, the family and SOS-Racism which has filed a civil suit, have been wondering about the reality of the facts. The policemen blamed deny having been particularly brutal. According to their initial declarations, they followed normal procedure. The young Zairian having fought back, it would not have been possible to overcome him without putting him on the ground and holding him there at the level of the thorax, the buttocks and

the legs. Perhaps the normal method but which in this case caused the death of a young man whose physical constitution was above average. That is why those close to Sydney feel that he suffered other violence. Amateur boxer, the young man, married and father of a child, was on the point of turning professional in the super middleweight category. It was at Levallois that he did most of his training. "He trained three hours a day, jogging every morning. His medical examinations never showed any weakness," explains his former trainer Joseph Ngufulu who confesses that he was surprised by the circumstances of the death. "Sydney had a truly athletic build. I can't imagine that he died simply from being put on the ground."

Tourcoing's main police station has maintained complete silence for two weeks. For the young people, this case is strangely reminiscent of a police mistake five years ago. A young man, of foreign origin, had also died, beaten to death by a drunken policeman in Wattrelos. An association official admits that the neighborhood youths regularly complain of the violence of certain policemen. "It's always the main police station. Relations are pretty normal with the other police stations." The city of Tourcoing hardly differs from other French cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants. Juvenile delinquency and unemployment are certainly high, but no study has ever revealed that the situation there might be more tense than elsewhere. Certain policemen see the Tourcoing tragedy as a manifestation of a permanent state of stress in urban police forces: "We are constantly on the alert, flagrantly undermanned in

neighborhoods where violence is a daily occurrence.

In these situations, tragedies sometimes occur." Remarks vigorously rejected by Commissioner Joseph Secarelli, counselor for the Secretary General of the National Organization of Autonomous Unions: "The citizens should not have to pay for the state of stress of the police. Perhaps it is time to review police training and put the principles of police ethics back on the agenda. There is a Higher Council of Police Ethics. I am surprised it was not called in after the death of the young man from Tourcoing."