Video shows police "abusing" French ex-world champion

PARIS, Mar 29 (Reuters) A lawyer for French athlete Eunice Barber demanded an inquiry today after a TV station aired amateur video footage of what appeared to be police abuse following her arrest for a driving offence.

Emmanuel Daoud, a lawyer for the Sierra Leone-born athlete, said he was shocked by the images, broadcast by French channel L'Equipe TV yesterday.

Barber, a French citizen, who took heptathlon gold in the 1999 world championships, was arrested on March 18 while driving near the Stade de France sports stadium in Paris.

Earlier this week, Daoud said Barber intended to sue several police officers for brutality after the incident and had lodged a complaint with the police internal affairs department.

Images broadcast by L'Equipe TV showed Barber being pinned to the bonnet of her car by four police officers before being twice forced to the ground. She was then put into a police van.

''I'm terribly shocked,'' Daoud told L'Equipe. ''She is like a puppet pushed on to the ground.'' He said the footage should form part of an investigation into the officer's behaviour.

Earlier this week, Barber said: ''I took a left turn while the officer indicated for me to turn right. But I didn't understand what he was wanting from me.

''He then banged on my car. I scrolled down the window and he slapped my face. I got out of the car and more officers showed up.'' She said two officers had stepped on her hands and head, and made racist remarks.

Police said Barber had started a brawl.

Barber, 31, was silver medallist in Paris in 2003 and in Helsinki last year in the heptathlon, a seven-discipline event.

She also clinched the long jump world crown three years ago and the bronze medal in 2005.

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told Le Parisien he took a hard line against police misbehaviour when it was proven.

He said soon all police vehicles would be equipped with cameras and officers would be forced to film what they do when stopping someone for questioning.

''Then I won't find myself in a situation like that of Eunice Barber, with two totally contradictory accounts'' of what happened, Sarkozy said.

REUTERS DH BST1831