West Midlands PC cleared of assault after hitting man – BBC News

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A police officer has been cleared of wrongdoing after a court accepted he used reasonable force on a drunken man.
Jack Green, 28, a constable with West Midlands Police, was found not guilty assault by beating.
He told Birmingham Magistrates Court he was left with no option but to deliver a "distraction strike" after being sent to a call-out in Penn, Wolverhampton.
District Judge Shamim Qureshi said the alleged victim was a "person of no credibility whatsoever".
The court heard while on the way to the scene, PC Green and a colleague had been told by 999 the caller had said her partner was very drunk and had been looking for knives.
Prosecutor Alex Warren had claimed video from a police body-worn camera, and mobile footage filmed by a witness, showed the alleged victim, who is in his 30s, being assaulted at the home of his partner and her daughter.
PC Green told the court, in his evidence, he feared he was about to be punched, and the tactic he used had the desired effect.
District Judge Qureshi found PC Green not guilty part-way through the defence case.
He said the mobile phone footage clearly showed the use of force in a doorway at about 19:30 GMT on 16 February had been reasonable.
The judge added: It's quite clear that he (the alleged victim) was reluctant to be arrested and was not co-operating."
He said the footage showed the alleged victim moving his hands towards PC Green, adding the use of force was "proportionate to the threat as he (PC Green) perceived it".
The footage, shown during the prosecution's opening, ended with the complainant being arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage.
He was not prosecuted for any offence, the court was told, while PC Green had been charged after an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
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