Met police officer must 'justify use of force' after video shows constables attacked in Hackney McDonald's during arrest

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. A back-up police team arrived shortly afterwards, the Met said, as it labelled the incident an “unacceptable, nasty” attack on officers “just trying to do their job”. Challenged by a Twitter user to explain the actions of the officer who appeared to hit the prone suspect, the force’s Hackney borough team said: “It’s down to each officer to justify their own use of force and reasons for it.” The Independent contacted the Met for further comment and highlighted the relevant portion of the video, which was also shared on Twitter by the Hackney team. He said "the public should be reassured that their police force is doing a good job” through transparency about their actions, but added that “in the same breath, when a video goes viral 30 seconds after an incident, what chance do officers have to respond to that?” He said that “it’s very easy for members of the public to take videos and film of an incident to portray it in any way they want to. These people should be helping the police, instead they are assaulting them,” said one person on Twitter, while another added: “Sad that no one stepped in to help the officers that are obviously struggling”.