A police officer is being investigated after showed him striking a disabled man in a wheelchair.
People were shocked to see the officer ‘pushing and punching‘ the one-legged man as he sat in his chair in St Peter’s Road, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
What Police Think
Police confirmed that the incident happened after the officer was threatened with a bottle and spat at by ‘a verbally abusive’ man in the street just after 5.15pm on Monday.
The force confirmed that ‘a thorough investigation of the circumstances’ was being carried out ‘including a review of the officer’s body worn video’.
The matter has been referred to the force’s Professional Standards Department and is also due to be referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Onlookers said the man in the wheelchair had been in the middle of the road, holding a bottle of alcohol when the police officer arrived on the scene.
They said the man moved as though he was about to get up before the officer took the bottle and started ‘pushing and punching him’.
Justin Fenn, manager of the Londis shop, said his CCTV cameras had filmed the incident from several angles.
He said: ‘The policeman pulled up and the man’s brandishing a bottle. He’s just tipped out contents and he’s brandishing it, instantly confrontational to the policeman.
‘I can only imagine the policeman’s asked him to move, and he just wants to have an argument. He’s shouting and screaming.
‘[The police officer] got the pepper spray. He’s asking for assistance [via his radio set] because he [man in wheelchair] is not doing anything rational.’
Mr Fenn’s footage showed the officer appearing to discharge a spray, and taking hold of the wheelchair, moving it and the man from the road onto the pavement, where a scuffle ensued.
What Eye Witnesses Think
He added: ‘[The police officer] has got the bottle, but the man’s grabbed the CS spray, and now the policeman is trying to get it back.
‘The man in the wheelchair is in a very controlling position. He’s got hold of the CS spray and [the officer] is doing everything he can to get it back.
‘The policeman is just defending himself.’
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Diari ‘Jay’ Salih, 40, who runs a barbershop opposite where the altercation happened, said witnesses were shocked by the incident.
He said he had approached the police officer and told him to stop after allegedly seeing the man being pepper-sprayed.
Mr Salih added: ‘Nobody’s happy about this. I can’t get the image out of my head. People around here now do not feel safe with the police.’
Carla Carvalho, 43, who works at a nearby business, described how the man in the wheelchair had been ‘in the middle of the road, dancing and singing and all happy when the policeman comes and stops him’.
She told the BBC: ‘He was trying to get up with a bottle of beer in hand and I think the police guy thinks he was going to throw the bottle at him. Then you see in the video the police guy punches him.
‘Whatever they say to each other I don’t know, but he doesn’t need to do this. He should be waiting for other ones [police officers].’
