Alleged police brutality

 

Mr Timur Rustem, lawyer for Mr Coutain, has called for a formal apology from Scotland Yard, saying the case "mirrors almost identically what happened to George Floyd".

 

Video footage, widely shared on social media, showed a white police officer appearing to kneel on the 48-year olds' head and neck. In the footage, as he is handcuffed on the pavement in Islington, north London, Mr Coutain appeals to officers to "get off my neck".

 

Speaking outside court, Mr Rustem said his client was "very distressed and very confused and not quite sure why he was targeted in this way." He said the Crown Prosecution Service should review the case, drop the charges, and offer a "formal apology".

 

"Essentially Mr Coutain was stopped and searched for matters for which he has not been charged. It is the use of what I would regard as excessive force, a knee being placed on his neck ... references which mirror exactly what happened to George Floyd in America. A man saying 'I can't breathe' and 'get your knee off my neck' – while he was already handcuffed and while he was restrained by two police officers."

 

The case has been sent to Snaresbrook Crown Court on August 17th. 

 

The arrest, which resulted in one Met officer being suspended and another placed on restricted duties, is being investigated by the police watchdog. Deputy Commissioner Sir Steve House described the video footage as "deeply disturbing" and said some of the techniques, which are "not taught in police training" caused him "great concern."

 

 

Whitestone Solicitors

Rochdale