IPCC wheelchair protester ruling

24 August 2011 Last updated at 11:43 ET

By Dominic Casciani BBC News home affairs correspondent

Jody McIntyre (centre) said he was hit with a baton and dragged across a road in central London

The police complaints watchdog has partially upheld a complaint from a man dragged along a road after he was removed from his wheelchair.

The IPCC said Jody McIntyre might have been assaulted by an officer using excessive force but said it was too late to prosecute.

Mr McIntyre was taking part in student fees protests in December 2010.

Scotland Yard earlier said officers had been right to move Mr McIntyre, based on the “perceived risk” to him.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it had recommended “management action”, rather than more serious discplinary proceedings, against the officer who dragged Mr McIntyre across the road.

Mr McIntyre was among thousands of people who protested in central London on 9 December against student tuition fees.

He was outside Parliament when he said he was hit by a baton, taken out of his wheelchair and dragged across the road. Footage of the incident was later distributed online.

In a statement, the IPCC said that it had agreed with the Metropolitan Police’s findings in relation to a number of Mr McIntyre’s complaints. The watchdog ruled that officers had acted appropriately when they removed him from his wheelchair because they believed he was in danger.

However, the watchdog said one officer had used “excessive force” when he dragged Mr McIntyre along the road.

“The IPCC believes there was an indication that a criminal offence of common assault may have been committed and the matter should therefore have been referred to the CPS,” said the watchdog.

“However, the six month time limit in which such a prosecution could be commenced had already passed by the time this appeal was lodged.

“The IPCC has upheld this part of the appeal and believe that that officer’s behaviour has fallen below the standards of professional behaviour and should be subject to management action.”

Scotland Yard defended the actions of officers in its own investigation earlier this year, stressing that the baton strike had been “inadvertent”.

In a statement, Mr McIntyre said: “I am currently considering what further legal action may be appropriate to ensure that those responsible for the way in which I was treated on 9 December 2010 are held to account.”

The watchdog accepted the Met’s conclusion that no officer had a case to answer for the baton strike – but it also said that Mr McIntyre should receive an apology.

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