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Wheelchair protester: IPCC partially upholds complaint | Wheelchair protester: IPCC partially upholds complaint |
(about 1 hour later) | |
By Dominic Casciani BBC News home affairs correspondent | |
The police complaints watchdog has partially upheld a complaint from a man dragged along a road after he was removed from his wheelchair. | The police complaints watchdog has partially upheld a complaint from a man dragged along a road after he was removed from his wheelchair. |
The IPCC said Jody McIntyre might have been assaulted by an officer using excessive force but said it was too late to prosecute. | |
Mr McIntyre was taking part in student fees protests in December 2010. | |
Scotland Yard earlier said officers had been right to move Mr McIntyre, based on the "perceived risk" to him. | Scotland Yard earlier said officers had been right to move Mr McIntyre, based on the "perceived risk" to him. |
The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it had recommended "management action", rather than more serious discplinary proceedings, against the officer who dragged Mr McIntyre across the road. | |
Mr McIntyre was among thousands of people who protested in central London on 9 December against student tuition fees. | |
He was outside Parliament when he said he was hit by a baton, taken out of his wheelchair and dragged across the road. Footage of the incident was later distributed online. | |
In a statement, the IPCC said that it had agreed with the Metropolitan Police's findings in relation to a number of Mr McIntyre's complaints. The watchdog ruled that officers had acted appropriately when they removed him from his wheelchair because they believed he was in danger. | |
However, the watchdog said one officer had used "excessive force" when he dragged Mr McIntyre along the road. | |
"The IPCC believes there was an indication that a criminal offence of common assault may have been committed and the matter should therefore have been referred to the CPS," said the watchdog. | |
"However, the six month time limit in which such a prosecution could be commenced had already passed by the time this appeal was lodged. | |
"The IPCC has upheld this part of the appeal and believe that that officer's behaviour has fallen below the standards of professional behaviour and should be subject to management action." | |
Scotland Yard defended the actions of officers in its own investigation earlier this year, stressing that the baton strike had been "inadvertent". | |
In a statement, Mr McIntyre said: "I am currently considering what further legal action may be appropriate to ensure that those responsible for the way in which I was treated on 9 December 2010 are held to account." | |
The watchdog accepted the Met's conclusion that no officer had a case to answer for the baton strike - but it also said that Mr McIntyre should receive an apology. |