A Gwent Police officer has been caught on film beating a Black man with a weapon last Friday after arresting the man for a driving offence in Bettws, Newport.
The force has said “the officer is not currently working an operational role” whilst the incident is being looked into but implied that he has not been suspended.
Cops have told voice.wales that they have passed on details to the police watchdog to investigate but the IOPC have added they are still assessing whether the beating needs to be probed.
Image: a still from an online video showing the incident
A horrific video of police brutality has surfaced on social media showing a Gwent Police officer using his truncheon on a dazed member of the public as children scream in the background.
The altercation, which took place last Friday 9 July around 5.05pm in Livale Court, Bettws near Newport, also shows the cop kneeling on the man whilst he struggles underneath.
When the unnamed 41-year-old man grasps the baton in self-defence the cop punches him in the temple, afterwards pointing aggressively in the man’s face, then cuffing him and radioing for more officers.
Black Lives Matter (BLM) Cardiff and Vale, the group that highlighted the video, told voice.wales that this was “another blatant case of brutality in South Wales.”
“There is zero justification for such treatment, the officer is clearly attacking the individual whilst he is being told to leave him alone by terrified family members and loved ones.”
The man was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst disqualified and driving without insurance, understood by voice.wales to be the initial offences, and also on suspicion of assault on an emergency worker and obstructing an officer in the execution of their duties.
A Gwent Police spokesperson said, concerning the driving raps: “He was later charged with these offences and appeared at Newport Magistrates Court on Monday 12 July.”
No more detail about these alleged secondary offences has been given by the force apart from mentioning that he was later released without charge under investigation.
A young man from Cardiff was recently accused of assaulting an emergency worker, a term being used to describe a police officer rather than a paramedic or a firefighter, and obstructing an officer for the simple crime of shining a phone torch in a cop’s face, being handed a fine in the process.
During the shocking video the witness filming said: “You beat him up, you sprayed him, you kicked him, you punched him, you ran through my house, you pushed my kids. I’m making a formal complaint on you, you absolute bully.”
Chief Superintendent of Gwent Police Tom Harding has told the press that the matter has been passed onto the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) “to ensure there is independent scrutiny and review.”
The watchdog has told voice.wales that it is not currently being investigated. An IOPC spokesperson said: “We have received a referral from Gwent Police and are assessing it to determine whether IOPC involvement in an investigation is required.”
Gwent Police have also said the cop involved has been reassigned but implied he has not been suspended: “The officer involved is not currently working in an operational role as enquiries are ongoing.”
The video surfaced on the day that the inquest was scheduled for a 29-year-old black man from Newport who died after police contact back in February 2021.
Mouayed Bashir was restrained to the ground by officers responding to a callout to a man having a mental health crisis at 9am on 17 February 2021, later being pronounced dead at Grange Hospital at 11.41am. Mouayed’s death is currently under investigation by the IOPC and is set to have an inquest next year in front of a jury.
The watchdog’s own credibility has been repeatedly questioned, with it recently saying there had been some ‘slippage’ over obtaining crucial body cam footage in the case of another young black man who died after police contact.
Last year, families of Black people who died following police contact called for the IOPC to be abolished, for what they said were repeated failures to bring about truth and justice.
BLM Cardiff and Vale added: “In South Wales, there have been three deaths after police contact just this year alone. We cannot take much more of this. We call for a quick and transparent investigation into this officer, who is clearly a danger to the community.”
“The police have once again proven that they are not the ones that protect us, but instead are the ones that target and brutalise us.”
Chief Superintendent Harding continued: “We’re aware of a video circulating on social media involving one of our officers, and Gwent Police takes all reports of this nature very seriously.
“We understand the concern shared by the community and are in the process of reviewing our contact with this individual as a whole.”
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