The Met Police HQ, New Scotland Yard
(Picture: PA Wire)A Met officer has been handed a final written warning for misconduct after using a Taser on an unresisting 16-year-old boy while he was restrained.
A probe carried out by the police watchdog, the IOPC, found that Pc Anthony Howe used “unnecessary and unreasonable force” during the arrest of the teen on September 7, 2020.
The disciplinary panel found that Pc Howe used “unreasonable” force by standing on the boy’s leg and striking him with a Taser while he was restrained on the ground by two other officers.
The panel also found that the officer pressed his arm against the boy’s neck after police stood him up against a wall to be searched.
The 16-year-old was arrested after officers witnessed a young man being chased by three youths, some of whom had knives.
The boy, who later pleaded guilty to affray and threatening someone with an offensive weapon, gave himself up voluntarily and was not holding a weapon when the officers restrained him, said the IOPC.
The panel found that Pc Howe breached the force’s standards because his behaviour “could reasonably have been perceived as abusive, oppressive or bullying and that it brought discredit on the police force”.
They also found he breached the standard for duties and responsibilities for failing to document the force he used against the boy.
IOPC Regional Director Sal Naseem said: “Police officers may only use force when it is necessary, proportionate and reasonable in the circumstances.
“Following our independent investigation, the disciplinary panel found the officer used unnecessary force against a boy who had given himself up and was not resisting.”
Pc Howe was given a final written warning which will stay on his record for four years.
An investigation into the incident began in September 2020, after a member of the public complained.
