Zineb Redouane in 2018, Manuel Coisne in 2019, and Serge Duteuil-Graziani in 2023. All three of these people were hit by a projectile from a Cougar grenade launcher. Redouane died, Coisne lost his eye, and Duteuil-Graziani is still between life and death, over two months after his injury.
The Cougar grenade launcher is a key weapon used by French law enforcement, yet it is designed to prevent injury on impact. To do so, it must be fired at a certain angle, as specified by its manufacturer, the French company Alsetex.
Le Monde consulted internal documents from the national police and gendarmerie, analyzed images of 331 shots fired by police officers and gendarmes, and produced a 3D model of the behavior of a Cougar grenade launcher shot. Our work reveals that police officers are trained to fire in ways that do not comply with the manufacturer's operating standards, and therefore regularly take the risk of causing injury, or even death.
