Shaunie Investigates: Police Altercation In Hackney McDonald's

The topic of Stop and Search and Section 60 is one that is being spoken about by many especially recently with their being so many deaths related to stabbings and shootings.

The pros and the cons have both been argued about and I can see both sides but when you have police officers not doing there job correctly and forgetting, or should I say, "choosing to dismiss the fundamental training they have been given"  it leads me to think that, in order for stop and search to work, the number one thing there needs to be is a common respect between each party.

Each party needs to feel that a job is being done for a purpose and not just based on the colour of someone's skin, the clothes that they are wearing or the number of people they are walking with.

Daily Mail headline using the words "attack" and "terrified". 

The process of stopping someone the police believe is a suspect of a crime (in the area), should be done correctly and not with the body language of 'A Bull In A Suit'. However this isn't always the case. I have seen a few incidents recently where the police have approached a black man in a defensive manner which only led to a bigger issue ensuing.

In August of this year, a video went viral on social media showing two police officers being attacked in an East London McDonald's.  

Several media publications ran with the visuals of this video and described it as an 'Attack On Police' or 'Police Beaten Whilst Doing Their Job'.

Evening Standard also use the narrative, "Attack" to describe the incident

The video that first came out.

You cannot deny that the video does look bad. You see a guy fly-kick a police officer in his back and it's not until the officer aims his taser at the crowd, do they back off.

However....Like everything - there's more than one side to a story, so watching this video left me wondering, "How did this all start?"

Then the video that I'd been waiting for made its way onto Twitter.  This video shows what happened before and up to the police officers hitting the floor.

What brought the police to the McDonald's?

Based on what I have seen and read, the police attended the McDonald's after a staff member activated the panic alarm because a customer was fighting other customers.

Starting from the beginning, there are a number of things I acknowledged which went against the rights of the man; who I'll refer to a Person A.

Person A, was causing no major disturbance to the general environment of the restaurant and felt he had every right to be served like any other person. 
The police approached person A, with one of the officers already having their handcuffs out and giving the impression that he was about to use them, it was only going to end badly.

The officer speaks with Person A, and twice, tells him to remove his hands from near his pockets when Person A refers to his phone being in his pocket. - I am unsure as to why he wanted his phone, maybe he felt he had some evidence to show the police - Person A complies and continues to explain his side of what has happened. The police ask him to leave the premises, without giving a reason why, when Person A refuses the officer then steps towards the man and proceeds to grab his arm and try to put the handcuffs on him. This leads to Person A falling to the ground and the police falling on top of him.

Someone from the crowd fly kick one of the officers whilst they are on the ground, but this is only done after the officer is seen using un-necessary force on Person A, by hitting the man with his radio.

Shaunie's Verdict

I do not condone the police officer being kicked, however, I especially do not condone the police officer trying to detain Person A without telling him why or the actions of the officer towards Person A. The officer was aggressive in his approach and failed to listen to anything the man was saying.

"There was no respect."

When the second video was released many people wanted answers from the police and wanted to know, 'what there actions would be towards the officers excessive force', Hackney Police responded by posting a tweet stating that the officer must 'justify their own use of force and reasons for it'.

Why is the Met Police not responsible for speaking up and publicly acknowledging that the officer was wrong and actually provoked the crowd?

Two months on from this incident, nothing more has been said, but the police are still conducting un-necessary stops with excessive force.

I'm unsure if Person A or anybody else has made a complaint regarding the actions of the officer, but if not then this can be done via the IOPC (Independent Office For Police Conduct). 👀