What on earth

Please note this post should be read in conjuction with the "to clarify" post above, not read in isolation

Nearly choked on my tea when I saw the Guardian headline: male officer suspended after punching a woman 5 times.

I have got to admit I am quite speechless. Watch the video here, the incident occurring at 02:18:58, then much more noticeably at 02:19:44

Now I'm not going to comment on whether it was right or wrong, whether she is trying to grab his genitals or not, whether he was justified or not. I can't tell where he was hitting her, whether it was on her arm or not. The closer I look, the more it seems like it was her arm- which would corroborate with what he said about trying to get her to let go of him. But maybe I'm looking for that because thats what I'm hoping to see.

Make up your own mind. To be fair to the guardian they seem to be fairly objective and factual about the incident. But those facts are disturbing.

South Yorks seriously need to review their officer safety training if their policy is it takes 4 men and a dog to restrain all 9 stone and 5ft 6 of female.

Whether the subsequent enquiry proves his use of force as proportionate or not, the overall image presented by this incident has tarred every single one of us who wears the uniform. This particular moving picture speaks a thousand words. Read through the guardian comments section and you can see what the general consensus as to what those thousand words say.

I didn't even realise she was black until I read through the comments section.

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