Complaint of excessive use of force during arrest - Humberside Police, February 2017

In February 2017 Humberside Police officers went to arrest a man at his home for the offences of theft and assault. The man alleged that, as he was taken from his home and placed into the police van, the officers used inappropriate force and he received injuries to his head and hand.

The man arrived at custody and complained of a broken finger. He was placed in a cell and taken to hospital over five hours later. The hospital confirmed that the man’s finger was broken.

During the investigation, our investigators interviewed the police officers involved in the man’s arrest and transportation to custody. Investigators also interviewed custody staff, viewed CCTV and examined documentary evidence.

The man and other witnesses who were at his home at the time did not engage with investigators, and no further evidence was given by the man who made the complaint.

We served the two police officers who attended the man’s home and a custody sergeant with notices that they were under investigation. They provided extensive written statements in response. Their actions were compared against the relevant policies and procedures.

CCTV footage covering a section of the man’s journey from his door to the police van do not appear to show the actions described by the man of having his right arm “constantly twisted up” as he was being escorted to the police van.

In our opinion, the available evidence did not indicate that officers used excessive force when they arrested the man. We were unable to establish with any degree of certainty whether the man accidentally trapped his hand in the door of the police van, whether he was injured in a fight before his arrest, or whether police action caused the injury to his finger.

Based on the evidence available we were of the opinion that the two police officers and the custody sergeant had not behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, nor that they had committed a criminal offence.

After reviewing our report the force agreed.