Last night, Merseyside police were called in response to reports of anti-social behaviour in Speke. In a video widely circulated on social media, an officer appears to beat a young person with the edge of his handcuffs against a shop front.
Merseyside Police received a complaint about the incident earlier today, and the force’s professional standards department are now reviewing the incident.
The incident took place outside Namcollis Mart on Alder Wood Avenue. The video shows an officer striking a young person with the edge of his cuffs three times, twice to his chest and once to his throat. The age of the apparent victim is unconfirmed and his face is blurred in the video, but commenters on social media suggested that he appears to be under 18.
Police guidance outlines that the use of force has to be proportionate to the real threat the police face. The wider context of the arrest in the video isn’t clear, but at the point of the incident, there were at least eight officers surrounding the detainee.
Merseyside Police has dismissed officers over excessive force before. In 2023, an officer was sacked following an Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation that found he used excessive force when he grabbed a detained woman by the throat and pushed her against a wall.
If you have any further information about this incident, please email ethan@livpost.co.uk
