The 35-year-old man was named Hacen Diarra and was originally from Mauritania.[1] He was stopped on the evening of Wednesday 14 January by Territorial Contact Brigade officers who said they had seen him rolling a cannabis joint.[1] He was seen at 10:45 pm rolling a cannabis joint by neighbourhood police officers.[2]

A police source said he resisted and officers used an electric-shock pistol in contact mode on his calf to restrain him.[1] At the station his alcohol test was negative, and police said he carried false administrative documents and brown matter resembling cannabis.[1] Officers notified him of garde a vue for alleged use of false administrative documents, acquisition, possession and use of narcotics, and rebellion.[2] After losing consciousness in the 20th-arrondissement station, the man arrested in possession of cannabis resin died.[3] He died during the night from Wednesday to Thursday in the 20th-arrondissement police station.[2] The death was recorded at 0:20 during the night of 14 to 15 January in the station on rue des Gatines.[2]

The Paris prosecutor opened a cause-of-death inquiry entrusted to the National Police Inspectorate, the IGPN.[3] His family filed a legal complaint accusing police of intentional violence that led to his death.[4] Prosecutors said Diarra died on Wednesday night in the Paris station after police said they saw him allegedly rolling a joint.[4]