Injury sustained during arrest - Metropolitan Police Service, December 2016

On 7 December 2016 two Metropolitan Police Service officers arrested a woman following allegations of criminal damage made by members of the public. She was placed in a police car to be taken to a police station, with a male officer sitting beside her on the back seat.

Due to her misbehaviour, the officer decided to handcuff the woman. As he manoeuvred her arm, he heard a cracking sound and realised that the woman’s arm might have been injured. A van was called and the woman was taken to hospital.

During the investigation, extensive enquiries were made in order to identify the nature of the injury sustained by the woman. However, it was impossible to locate any evidence. Without medical records, we were not able to ask a ‘use of force’ expert to give their opinion on the force used by the officer.

We were therefore not able to conclude that the actions of the officer alone were the cause of the injury, or that his actions were an inappropriate use of force.