A police officer punched a man in the face after pinning him to the ground by his neck during a street arrest.
The man, 41, was in handcuffs and facing arrest for drink-driving after fleeing the scene of a collision in Birmingham.
In a video he’s seen thrashing out at a trio of officers who dragged him from a police car and attempted to restrain him on Thursday.
West Midlands Police defended their use of force, saying the officer was assaulted by the man.
Four shocked onlookers joined the fracas as the man yelled in pain while the officers wrestled to bring him under their control.
The police appeared to label these people ‘hostile witnesses’.
The footage was uploaded to the Birmz is Grime blog with the caption: ‘West Midlands Police you’re in the wrong for this one.’
Some social media users agreed unreasonable force had been used, but others jumped to the defence of the officers and blamed the suspect for resisting arrest.
One Twitter user wrote: ‘That could have been resolved without a punch to the face. Violence breeds violence. He won’t respect the police anytime soon.’
Another said: ‘Funnily enough the video missed out why the geezer’s being dragged out the car initially.
‘Then he’s resisting and tries to kick the copper – only give what you can take, clearly a wrong un, lucky he only got a little slap.’
A spokesperson for West Midlands Police said they considered the force used by the officer was not excessive after reviewing the footage.
They said: ‘While under arrest for drink-driving following a non-stop collision at the junction of Wash Lane and Flavells Lane last night, a 41-year-old man assaulted one of our officers by kicking him.
‘Force was needed to restrain the man, and body worn video has since been reviewed where the force used is deemed not to be excessive.
‘We understand that footage shared on social media is alarming, but our officers are trained in how to restrain members of the public in these circumstances, while also dealing with hostile witnesses, as was the case in this instance.’
MORE : Rapper’s teeth knocked out after fight with McDonald’s bouncers during two-day bender
MORE : Four Kill the Bill protestors who trashed police station jailed for 14 years
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
from News – Metro https://ift.tt/2WGqFJl
0 Comments