28, Beauvais, 28 December 2019

It is a Saturday night like any other in the streets of Beauvais. On 28 December 2019, as the town gets ready to celebrate the new year, Youssef Amer criss-crosses the main town of the Oise department, north of Paris, on his scooter. An Uber Eats courier, he is on one of his many runs that evening, carrying a meal for a regular customer of a fast-food restaurant.

At around 10pm, on the corner of boulevard Saint-Jean and avenue Nelson-Mandela, a few steps from the Beauvais courthouse, Youssef’s run comes to a brutal end. His scooter slams into a car, hitting it at the door. The impact is so violent that, despite the swift arrival of the emergency services, he cannot be resuscitated at the scene.

On the cold asphalt of this junction controlled by traffic lights, the debris is still visible the next day: pieces of red plastic, a helmet visor torn off, scattered fragments of a wrecked two-wheeler. Silent remnants of the violence of the impact.

The exact circumstances of the accident remain unclear, according to the local police directorate (DDSP).

“We know that a car was struck by a scooter at the door, which led to the death of the rider of the two-wheeler.”

A police investigation was opened immediately. Samples were taken to test the car driver, a 20-year-old from Beauvais who was taken into police custody after the accident, for any trace of drugs or alcohol. With questions unanswered, the police issued an appeal, looking for any “eyewitnesses” who could shed light on what happened.

Six years on, it has not been possible to find out whether those questions were ever answered.