WIREDGOV

An IPCC investigation concluded that Leicestershire officers used proportionate force when arresting a man armed with a knife outside a community centre.

The incident happened on 11 September this year (2017) when PCSOs at the Tudor Centre in Bewcastle Grove, Leicester, were alerted to a man with a knife confronting youths on a car park at the back of the building.

Two police constables and a sergeant were called to the scene and two of them used batons to restrain the man after he refused to put the knife down despite repeated requests, and approached one of the officers with it. Body worn footage also showed that incapacitant spray was used with no tangible effect before batons were employed. The arrested man required stitches to his face following the incident.

IPCC Operations Manager Steve Martin said: “Police arrived to find an alarming situation with a man armed with a knife and a crowd of onlookers, including children. We had a duty to investigate due to the injury the man sustained, and our investigator concluded that officers faced a very real threat to their safety and acted with substantial restraint.

“Our swift investigation was completed within a week and all the officers involved were treated as witnesses.”

The man who was arrested appeared before Leicester magistrates last month (October) when he was given a four-month jail sentence, suspended for a year, after admitting affray and possession of an offensive weapon. He was also placed under an alcohol rehabilitation order.