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French police are questioning a police officer after the fatal shooting of a 19-year-old man who was fleeing an attempted traffic stop for speeding, prosecutors said.
It was the latest case of alleged police brutality against suspects that has sparked protests in recent years from critics citing harsh tactics, particularly against people from ethnic minorities.
The young man was among three people in the car late Sunday when police tried to stop them near Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in western France, state prosecutor Pierre-Yves Marot said in a statement.
The driver refused to stop and drove off before being forced to stop by a second police car.
All three passengers in the car tried to escape. One person fled and another was arrested and charged on suspicion of robbery as the vehicle was reported stolen.
“The third person, a 19-year-old from Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, was confronted by police officers from the second patrol and hit one of them while trying to escape,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The officer “then used a stun gun” while a colleague pulled out and “used his service weapon, fatally striking him in the chest.”
The officer who fired the shot was detained for questioning on Monday evening at the internal affairs department of the IGPN police.
France was rocked in June and July last year through violent riots about the killing outside Paris of a teenager by a police officer during a traffic check.
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