Kim Kwang-ho, charged with negligence, is one of the most senior officials to face legal consequences for the October 2022 disaster that killed nearly 160 people in Seoul.
Théo Luhaka, who was 22 at the time of the incident, sustained serious injuries when the police subdued him while conducting identity checks in a suburb northeast of Paris.
The three police officers were found not guilty last month in the death of Manuel Ellis, who died in custody in 2020 after pleading that he could not breathe.