Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

Within the last few moments, Greater Manchester Police have suspended an armed police officer who, after footage, emerged from a Manchester airport, which showed the officer kicking a man who was prone on the ground in the head and then stomping on him. Let's get more. Should we... Shinji is standing by for us. We've been talking about this all morning, and there has been a call by some politicians we've been talking to, to further investigate. What's the plan now?

[00:00:30]

Well, Kay, in the last few minutes, we've had that confirmation from Greater Manchester Police that the officer involved has been suspended. They have put out a statement in which they say, Following a thorough review of further information that has become available in relation to the incident on Tuesday night, they have suspended the officer from all duties. They've also said that a referral has now been made to the independent office for police conduct for a full independent investigation before going on to talk about the concerns that this has raised in the community. They say that they're going to continue to discuss those feelings with Greater Manchester residents. Some of those residents were out here in Rochdale yesterday outside of the police station. Hundreds of them, in fact, protesting, chanting, GMP, shame on you, voicing their displeasure with that incident. That footage you talked about, Kay, being shared widely and being described as disturbing and distressing by a number of people from a number of quarters. That footage shows an officer With their taser pointed at a man who's on the floor with his arms by his side, that officer then kicks him on the head and stomps on his head.

[00:01:37]

The officer then walks over to another man who they then force to the ground and hit with that taser. That footage has been criticized by a number of people, and those people here were at the station, but also people over the course of the breakfast program. We had a statement from Greater Manchester Police adding some further context to what had happened. They say that they were called to reports of an assault. They say that the officers responding were attacked, one suffered a broken nose, and that the other officers were forced to the ground and suffered injuries which required hospital treatment. Four men were arrested on a number of charges, those included assault of an emergency worker, afraid and obstructing the police. We now know, as of the last few minutes, that the officer involved has been suspended, while Greater Manchester Police have also referred themselves to the IOPC.