Death of Cheikh F. in Le Pontet: a man killed by a municipal police officer, one week after the vote on the Pauget bill
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On the night of 14 to 15 July 2026, Cheikh F., aged 29, was killed by two shots from a municipal police officer in Le Pontet (Vaucluse), in what was described as a “refusal to stop for the police” (refus d’obtempérer). The first findings of the investigation – a victim hit in the back while his car was stationary – undermine the self-defence claim. The case came one week after the National Assembly adopted the Pauget bill establishing a presumption that police use of firearms is lawful.
The Vedène toll barrier (A7 motorway), on the way out of Le Pontet (Vaucluse).
On the night of 14 to 15 July 2026, Cheikh F., aged 29, died on the outskirts of Le Pontet, in the greater Avignon area (Vaucluse), after being shot by a municipal police officer, Théo U., 28, a former gendarme. According to the officers’ account as reported in the local press, the driver allegedly refused to stop for a police check, leading to a chase of some twelve kilometres that ended near a toll barrier, where the shots were fired. At this stage, the investigation has not established the precise sequence of events or the circumstances.
The municipal police officer has been placed under formal investigation (mise en examen) for violence resulting in death without intent to cause it. According to Libération, several findings contradict the self-defence claim initially put forward: Cheikh F. was reportedly hit in the back while his car was stationary. The family’s lawyer, Arié Alimi, speaks of an “intentional homicide” and a “fatal shot in the back”. Joris Hébrard, Le Pontet’s Rassemblement national mayor, has for his part backed the officer, saying he could return to duty.
According to Libération, much of the footage that may have captured the scene – toll cameras, urban CCTV, the officers’ body cameras – was neither seized nor examined in the first hours of the investigation.
The death of Cheikh F. came one week after the adoption, on 7 July 2026, at first reading in the National Assembly, of the bill sponsored by MP Éric Pauget, which establishes a presumption that police use of firearms is lawful. The text was not in force at the time and excluded municipal police from its scope. Its opponents – including the Defender of Rights, France’s human rights ombudsman, the Ligue des droits de l’Homme, and several judges and prosecutors – nevertheless warn of the climate such a reform creates and the risk that officers will be quicker to reach for their weapons.