Police Ombudsman clears PSNI officers of misconduct after claims they treated man “like lesser person”

A Police Ombudsman investigation has rejected claims that the PSNI treated a man they had arrested “like a lesser person” and deliberately inflicted pain on him.
PSNI body worn video camera technologyPSNI body worn video camera technology
PSNI body worn video camera technology

He claimed that an officer grabbed him by the shoulder after a verbal disagreement, despite being told that his shoulder was painful from an injury. He also accused police of inflicting pain by fitting handcuffs behind his back, rather than to his front.

The incident happened in a Co Antrim village in March last year after police responded to a report that the man had caused damage to a relative’s house. They found him to be agitated and after restraining him, placed him into the back of a Land Rover and took him to hospital for assessment.

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An ombudsman investigator obtained accounts from the officers involved, and also secured footage from two police officers’ Body Worn Video (BWV) cameras.

The investigator noted that the footage did not appear to show the complainant to be in any discomfort, and that he made no comment about the handcuffs causing him pain.

She also noted that police policy allows for handcuffs to be fitted to the rear in order to minimise risk in situations where people’s behaviour has been volatile.

The footage also showed that when an officer placed a hand on the man’s shoulder he advised that it was to stop the man falling forward while the police vehicle was turning a corner.

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This happened just after the man’s phone, which had been placed in an officer’s cap for safekeeping, slid onto the floor of the Land Rover.

The man later accused officers of mishandling it, leading to its screen being cracked.

However the investigator said the vehicle floor was carpeted and there was no evidence that the screen had not already been cracked.

She also found that the footage showed the officers treated the man with respect and there was no evidence of any misconduct.