Met Police Officer Sacked After Punching Handcuffed Black Child In The Face

A police officer who punched a handcuffed black child in the face has been sacked.

Metropolitan officer, PC Steven Martin, who was previously serving in the firearms command, also verbally abused the 15-year-old despite him not resisting, as he tried to arrest him. He believed that the youth was a suspect in a knifepoint robbery.

The boy was initially charged concerning the case, but the case against him was dropped by the CPS after a small investigation.

A discipline panel found PC Martin guilty of the main offence, gross misconduct. Mr Martin threw the punch when the boy was on the floor and handcuffed, following the police watchdogs investigations where they confirmed that the child was not resisting at the time.

The incident occurred on 28 February 2021. The local force were looking for three youths in Leyton, East London, who werebelieved to be armed with knives and were on the run after an attempted robbery.

Not only did the officer punch the boy, but Mr Martin is alleged to have also called the boy a "fucking scumbag".

Mr Martin failed to mention the punch when he first accounted the incident on the system. It was caught on his body-worn video when the case was being reviewed.

Following the review, he pleaded guilty to common assault in January 2022 and was sentenced to a curfew order for 14 weeks and ordered to pay court costs and compensation.

Independent Officer for Police conduct, Sal Naseem, who investigated the case has said:

"Following our independent investigation, we found a case to answer on the basis that the force used appeared to exceed what was required in the circumstances as the boy had given himself up and was not resisting."