Complaint of use of excessive force - West Yorkshire Police, June 2016

On 26 June 2016, two West Yorkshire Police officers responded after concerns were raised for the safety of a man at an address in the Bingley area of West Yorkshire. On arrival, the officers entered the property via an unlocked door. They found the man asleep and woke him up.

Because of information received from the force control room via radio, the officers arrested the man. During the arrest, there was a struggle and the officers restrained the man, handcuffing him to the rear.

The officers escorted the man out of the premises. When leaving the back garden the man fell to the ground in the street. Because of this fall, the officers decided to take him to Bradford Royal Infirmary. He was subsequently diagnosed as having suffered four skull fractures, a cut to his chin requiring stiches, and swelling to the left side of his head. The man remained in hospital for three days. Following his discharge from hospital, police took him into custody, but the man was declared unfit to be detained, and released. He was later convicted of resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

On the day he was released from hospital, the man made a complaint alleging that an officer kicked him to the face after he was handcuffed, and was lying face down on the floor.

We received the referral on 30 June 2016 as a mandatory complaint. The force had not referred the incident to us as a death or serious injury matter, as they are required to do in these circumstances.

During the investigation, our investigators interviewed witnesses who lived near to where the incident occurred; examined radio transmissions between the officers at the scene and the force control room; reviewed evidence gathered from crime scene investigators; and interviewed the officers who arrested the man.

The Lead Investigator formed the opinion that there was sufficient evidence upon which a reasonable tribunal, properly directed, could find gross misconduct for one officer involved in the arrest of the man in relation to his use of force.

After reviewing our report, the force disagreed with this opinion. They considered that the officer’s decision to use force during the arrest was appropriate, justified and proportionate, as the man was resisting arrest and behaving in an aggressive manner. Their view was that there was insufficient evidence to support the man’s allegations that the officer had kicked him. They therefore considered there was insufficient evidence for the officer to have a case to answer for misconduct, gross misconduct, or unsatisfactory performance.

We considered their response and rationale and agreed that, while there was conflicting evidence in this case, the evidence appeared to weigh so heavily in favour of the officer’s account that no reasonable tribunal could accept the man’s account over it.

No action was taken against either officer involved in the arrest of the man.