The investigating magistrate has charged the policeman with voluntary homicide and placed him in provisional detention over Tuesday’s incident, the regional prosecutors said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday a prosecutor said the policeman’s use of his firearm had not been legal under the circumstances, and he would be taken before a magistrate with a view to being charged with homicide.

The teenager, named Nahel, was killed as he pulled away from police who tried to stop him for traffic infractions.

A video, authenticated by AFP, showed two policemen standing by the side of the stationary car, with one pointing a weapon at the driver.

A voice is heard saying: “You are going to get a bullet in the head.”

The police officer then appears to fire as the car abruptly drives off.

On Thursday night the police officer’s lawyer told BFM TV that his client had wanted to aim at the teenager’s legs but his gun rose up as the teenager drover away.

“My client risked being run over, he was in danger,” the lawyer said after insisting his client was sorry for the death of the youngster.

Clashes first erupted as the video emerged to contradict police accounts that the teenager was driving at the officer.

French authorities are ready for more violent night protests over the fatal shooting of a teenager by a policeman according
to an internal security note on Thursday, a police source said.

The source referred to an internal document saying the “coming nights” were expected “to be the theatre of urban violence” with “actions targeted at the forces of order and the symbols of the state”, the source said.