London police suspended an officer pending an investigation after images of him kneeling by the side of the head and neck of a black suspect appeared.
Images from the arrest in North London on Thursday show two officers holding the handcuffed man.
At the beginning of the clip, one of the officers, who was white, appears to be pressing on the man’s neck with his knee. The officer’s hand is on the man’s head, which is on a sidewalk beside him.
Another East Asian ethnic officer assisted in moderation.
“Get off me … get off my neck”, you can hear the man fighting screaming in the video that appeared on social networks. “I haven’t done anything wrong, take off your neck.”
One of the two officers asks, “Are you going to be good?” They tell him to stay down.
Later, the suspect was shown sitting and talking to police officers.
Police said he was arrested Thursday on suspicion of a skirmish and possession of an offensive weapon, following reports of a fight, and remains in custody.
The Metropolitan Police referred the incident for investigation by the UK’s independent police, and London Mayor Sadiq Khan called for a swift and thorough investigation of what he described as a “distressing” incident.
“The video I saw today and circulating on social media is extremely disturbing,” Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Steve House said Friday.
“Some of the techniques used cause me great concern: they are not taught in police training.”
Major cities around the world, including London, have seen huge protests by Black Lives Matter over concerns about racial injustice following the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man in police custody in the U.S. city of Minneapolis on May 25.
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