French report chides police in 2005 deaths

PARIS, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- A lawyer representing the families of French teenagers electrocuted during a police chase says a report shows officers acted "thoughtlessly."

The deaths of Bouna Traoré and Zyed Benna set off days of rioting in late 2005 in the heavily immigrant suburbs of Paris and elsewhere in the country. Another teenager was involved in the incident but survived.

Jean-Pierre Mignard, the lawyer, said that the investigation by an internal police agency shows that police deliberately put the teens' lives in danger, Le Monde reported. The investigators found that police failed to call EDF, the power company, after the boys fled into an electrical substation in Clichy-sous-Bois and had the power cut off.

The report also said that radio transmissions showed that police chased the teens into the substation.

Generally, the report showed that officers acted "thoughtlessly, with surprising absent-mindedness," the report said.