A police officer has been sacked after repeatedly punching a man and giving a "dishonest account" of the incident. PC Rowan Knight of South Wales Police kneed the man and placed him in a headlock during the Cardiff arrest as well as asking him: "Do you want some more?"
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) began an investigation into PC Knight in February 2021 after a complaint over the arrest, which had happened the previous month on Northern Avenue. An IOPC spokesperson said: "We examined allegations including whether there were legitimate grounds for arrest, and whether the force used in punching the man several times to the face while holding him in a headlock and kneeing him in the ribs was proportionate in the circumstances. It was also alleged that PC Knight escalated the situation unnecessarily by his use of force, and that he later provided a statement that described a different version of events to those captured on police footage."
The investigation included reviewing body-cam footage and accounts from the other two officers at the scene as well as the man who was arrested. There was then a disciplinary hearing overseen by an independent and legally qualified chair.
The disciplinary panel heard how PC Knight took an "angry and confrontational" tone of voice before grabbing the barefoot and semi-naked man by the throat. PC Knight had claimed to be acting in self-defence.
The panel concluded that PC Knight’s initial four punches were "reasonable and in self-defence" but that further punches when the man was no longer a threat were "disproportionate". They noted that PC Knight had said to the man: "Do you want some more?"
PC Knight was dismissed without notice following the hearing last week and placed on the police barred list. But at a criminal trial at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court in October 2021, he was found not guilty of assault over the same incident. An IOPC spokesperson said: "The thresholds for standards of proof in police disciplinary proceedings are different to those at a criminal trial."
And IOPC director David Ford said: “Police officers should only use the minimum amount of force required in any given situation they face. In our view the physical force applied by PC Knight was not necessary, reasonable or proportionate in the circumstances. The body-worn video of the other officers present did not support the officer’s account that all his actions were in self-defence, and therefore the explanation he gave was dishonest. The evidence indicated that PC Knight continued to use force at a time when the man posed no genuine risk to him or his colleagues."
READ NEXT:
Criminal spared jail despite completing just six hours of unpaid work in nearly two years
Police officer sacked for inappropriate use of intelligence system
Paedophile caught in sting after trying to groom '12-year-old'
-
Birthday party descends into drink fuelled chaos as man holds four-year-old in front of police van
