Police With Baton

[TheDevil]

Anyone see the damage done to the poor ginger chap?

Anyone see the video of the assault?

Heinous.

[nailit]

No doubt that if it was film of a civilian caving a police officers head in, people would immidiatly be calling for his imprisonment!

[TheDevil]

They'd be calling for more than that! They'd want the 16 year old young chap hung drawn and quartered and his parents imprisoned for producing the kid.

[nailit]

Yep. Somehow, when the police assault someone, they never appear to be in the wrong in some peoples eyes.
I too have been assaulted by the police, on one occasion ending up with stiches in my head. But somehow it must have been my fault!

[Mamyalynne]

The ferocity of the strike following a speedy run up looks very disturbing, I'm glad there is to be an investigation with hopefully extended video footage.

[wolf63]

"The only side i'm taking is the boys! Who deserves that on the head?" you have reached this conclusion having not been there and having no facts.

The Policeman 'may' have been OTT and it is also possible that the boy was up to no good.I

Your reasoning defies logic sometimes.

[ummmm]

I rarely understand his logic.

[hereIam]

^ Ditto.

[douglas9401]

You don't attack people from behind unless at war or you're an out of control thug I'm afraid.

16 year-olds are rarely a match for a trained police officer in command of his faculties.

[vulcan42]

You cannot judge this event fairly until you know/ see what happened just before the man was hit.

[douglas9401]

You don't hit kids on the back of the head with a weapon in any situation I can think of.

[Davemano]

vulcan42 20.55 - Perfectly true.

[ummmm]

Douglas - he didn't ask his age before he hit him I'm sure.

[douglas9401]

I suppose the fella should be grateful that he didn't trip and fall down the concrete stairs too.

Wrong is wrong, this is the kind of behaviour that has the breathless up in arms if it happens in Chile or South Africa.

[Barmaid]

It's v difficult to see what happened on the video.

However, there is no need to approach someone from behind and hit them on the head. Age is irrelevant.

Unfortunately every now and again for whatever reason an officer will go too far. Hopefully the IPC will investigate thoroughly.

Im really not sure what happened heee but sometimes rogue officers do overstep the mark. Their behaviour shouldn't reflect on the vast majority of those doing a *** job in difficult circumstances.

[chrissa1]

I saw this video this morning and thought straightaway that the lad didn’t deserve that blow from behind, to his head. The policeman could have run up and encircled the lad’s arms if he suspected the lad was going to do something terrible, (which I don’t believe.)

Way too much force.

[EDDIE51]

This will have been reported to The Police Complaints Authority . They will investigate and will NOT 'take sides' ! All the officers involved will have been immediately 'suspended from duty' !

[Nical]

Yes, Eddie - information was contained in the links given earlier.

[anneasquith]

What i see from the video is appalling. But there may be more evidence.

[ludwig]

Ridiculous thuggery. He could have killed him.

That response would only have been justifiable if the youth had been running around stabbing random people.

[soxmis_sid]

The police are not above the law. I believe that the police are only permitted to use force (like the rest of Joe Public) in their defence or to prevent further injury. Also police training in the use of a baton states that you cannot swing over hand and you should not strike the head.