Unsettling footage has been released showing a ruthless London police officer repeatedly beating a suspect as other officers hold him down. As the suspect cries out in pain, the officers says, “You spit and I’ll f*cking hurt you,” whilst continuously punching him in the back.
Video was captured by witness
The video was filmed by a witness, who says it took place on the pavement outside a row of shops, and that the Police officers rugby-tackled the shirtless suspect to the ground before holding him there and beating the living gravy out of him.
In the video, the police officers berate the man, screaming at him to put his hands down.
A total of three are keeping him pinned to the pavement while the other punches the suspect in the back at least six times.
Suspect was foreign
It’s worth noting that the suspect speaks in a foreign language for most of the video, suggesting racial profiling on the part of the police, or possibly discrimination in harsher treatment due to the colour of his skin. The exception is for one English-language utterance of “Please! Please! Please!” as the officers hold him down and pummel him.
A police officer is quoted in the video as telling the suspect, “You spit and I’ll f*cking hurt you,” as they have him on the ground, helpless. An officer tells the suspect to “shut up” as he screams in agony and then tells him that he is being arrested for assault.
The footage ends as the suspect, who names himself as Gustavo in the clip, is taken into the back of a police van and driven away to be incarcerated. Gustavo is a Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese name. It might be a case of profiling, even though this is something that has increased targeting mainly Middle Eastern suspects.
Incident does not comply with police guidelines
Official police guidelines state that officers can use force only if it is “absolutely necessary.” This did not seem necessary at all, as Gustavo was not resisting or fighting back and he was begging them to stop. The guidelines also state that force must be “reasonable and proportionate.” There’s nothing reasonable or proportionate about what we see in that footage; it’s downright excessive.
The witness who shot the footage said it appeared as though “he wasn’t going anywhere," the police "already had him face down on the ground.” He says he thought to himself, “Can they do that?” He also said that the incident lasted for “quite a while” and that “the man was obviously in pain. One of them then put his knee in his back.” He says that while he didn’t know what Gustavo had done when he turned his camera on the incident, “someone said the man had stolen something from a shop.”
The Metropolitan Police have yet to release a statement about the incident.
