12 Dead in Daytime Paris Attack at Satirical Magazine

[Drew Phipps]

Ok, his hands did appear to be restrained in some manner, but not cuffs or even standard plasti-cuffs, as there is a bit too much separation between the arms. Not to mention that the restraints would be of more limited utility to police in front of the body, as opposed to behind the back. However, what we saw there is not generally the way people run from danger, in that your arms are necessary to balance out the rotation of the body imposed by pushing against the ground with first one leg and then the other. If you can't freely use your arms, you won't be using the full power of your legs either. The only reason I can think of, besides restraint, for someone to run in that fashion is if they were carrying an object in both hands. I didn't see any evidence of such an object. But I can understand why the cops waiting at the door there might have believed that guy was carrying a gun.


That brings me to a second point. What I don't understand is the practice of sending in one officer, presumably with the grenade that went off, while all the others waited at the door to ambush whoever ran out. Standing on both sides of a door and shooting as the suspect exits seems to me to be an excellent way to get a cop killed by friendly fire. That would not be my (limited) experience of how (American) law enforcement would clear a room; around these parts, they throw grenades in from outside, and pretty much all charge in at the same time, and by virtue of their training know their functions and fields of fire as a team. Maybe things are different in France.

[David Guyatt]

Ok, his hands did appear to be restrained in some manner, but not cuffs or even standard plasti-cuffs, as there is a bit too much separation between the arms. Not to mention that the restraints would be of more limited utility to police in front of the body, as opposed to behind the back. However, what we saw there is not generally the way people run from danger, in that your arms are necessary to balance out the rotation of the body imposed by pushing against the ground with first one leg and then the other. If you can't freely use your arms, you won't be using the full power of your legs either. The only reason I can think of, besides restraint, for someone to run in that fashion is if they were carrying an object in both hands. I didn't see any evidence of such an object. But I can understand why the cops waiting at the door there might have believed that guy was carrying a gun.

Yes, his hands do appear to be restrained and his run was unnatural as a consequence. I would argue that in the event of a forthcoming collision, as was evidenced, if someone were holding an object in both hands then one hand would've let go if it could. To maintain any sort of grip at that point seems wholly unnatural and forced. I think what evidence there is - although very poor quality - suggests that he wasn't carrying anything and that, therefore, his hands were restrained.

That brings me to a second point. What I don't understand is the practice of sending in one officer, presumably with the grenade that went off, while all the others waited at the door to ambush whoever ran out. Standing on both sides of a door and shooting as the suspect exits seems to me to be an excellent way to get a cop killed by friendly fire. That would not be my (limited) experience of how (American) law enforcement would clear a room; around these parts, they throw grenades in from outside, and pretty much all charge in at the same time, and by virtue of their training know their functions and fields of fire as a team. Maybe things are different in France.

Actually, if you check the footage again carefully, Drew, two officers went in from that door. Others came in from the door around the corner (out of sight of this particular camera) but you can see at least one in the deep background holding a bullet-proof shield in front of him on the floor. My guess is that there were a minimum if 4 police in the supermarket at the time Coulibaly bolted for the door. The question for me is why did he run to the door (not-with-standing the hands problem) when he must've known there were a ton of armed police waiting out there for him? For me the run was, therefore, probably one of extreme desperation to escape from something even worse???