Man injured during arrest - British Transport Police, January 2018

On 30 January 2018 British Transport Police (BTP) arrested a man on suspicion of theft from a shop at Victoria station, London. The man was escorted to a BTP police station, where officers attempted to conduct a search. The man resisted and the officers decided to handcuff him. The man continued to resist and officers used force to take him to the ground. He was taken to a custody suite and then later to hospital, where he was found to have sustained a broken knee and wrist.

Our investigators obtained statements from the attending officers and the man. They also viewed and analysed local authority CCTV footage and officers’ body-worn camera footage.

Based on the evidence available we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, or had committed a criminal offence.

However, we found that the officers had started taking the man down to the ground before they gave him a warning about the manoeuvre. BTP proposed to deal with this by way of words of advice to both officers by their line manager, so they could learn from the incident.

We agreed that their proposals were appropriate.