Greater Manchester Police have apologised after a video circulating showed a man arrested and threatened with pepper sprayas he was dropping off food for his vulnerable mother in Fallowfield
The footage shows an officer putting handcuffs on the man for ‘breaking covid rules’ before screaming ‘you’ll be next’ to a bystander
In a statement police said that although the matter is being investigated fully by our professional standards branch, our initial review shows that the incident wasn’t dealt with in the professional way we would expect and we apologise for that. The public rightly expect the highest standards from our officers and we will investigate this matter thoroughly and properly.
A senior member of the force is speaking to the man and his family today.
We would ask that the public understand the stresses that our officers are working under at present and we hope this apology will be welcome to those involved.
After carefully watching the video I think the Police officer acted reasonably throughout in the face of strong provocation with multiple people shouting at him and threatening him including the Cameraman. He doesn’t scream at anyone at any point and is respectful throughout. He asked the man several times to explain himself, he refused to do so, he refused to give details and after being told he was to be fined he tried to walk away. What else is a Police officers supposed to do when confronted with this level of disrespect and lawlessness? If the man had been reasonable, explained the situation he would have been able to freely continue, instead he provoked the Officer repeatedly, as did his brother behind the camera then his mum who repeatedly refused to step away to respect Covid rules. If this officer is disciplined you will be giving entitled and selfish members of the public who don’t respect the Police carte blanche to act like thugs and break whatever laws they want to. Why is the brother in the street filming? Why is he standing around in the street? People are dying today, young and old.
It’s not Lawlessness, it’s called over reach and police officers overreacting and over reaching beyond their legal remit. End of !
Where do we live ? nazi Germany ? China ? No we dont. Keep going like this and if social cohesion breaks down it will be blamed squarley on the pigs.