Manchester police received ‘training’ after dragging and standing on sleeping homeless man

Footage has emerged of a Police Officer dragging and stamping on a rough sleeper in Manchester city centre.

The officer is seen dragging a man by his sleeping bag before treading on him, in an incident that took place last September.

The officer has since received “refresher training” for her behaviour which was branded as “dehumanising” and “unacceptable”.

The video shows the offence taking place outside Manchester Town Hall, where the man is then dragged onto St. Peters Square.

The 31-year-old Sudanese man, who chose to remain anonymous, told the BBC that the incident “caused him problems” including “blood in his urine” and that he was forced into hospital afterwards.

The man has been in the UK for over three years and has been granted the right to remain, explain the BBC. He says he has since recovered from the incident.

In the video, the officer and the man can be seen grabbing each other, with the officer stood over the man lying on the floor.

“We told them we had nowhere to go and that we were very cold”, the man continued, adding that they were usually moved on by council workers in the morning.

“I was telling her [the police officer] that I needed to sleep.”

The officer can be heard saying “I’ve told you” whilst another officer is heard telling the man “you’ve been warned now”. Another man in the video can also be heard saying “mate, you’re going to get sprayed with water in a second.”

The video ends with two officers gesturing for the man to move, and one of the Officer’s can be heard saying “move yourselves.”

In response to the incident, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said that the acts in the video “must not be repeated” and that “the superintendent responsible for the city centre spoke to the officer involved and made it clear that her actions were unacceptable.”

The GMP Spokesperson continued, saying that as well as other employees, the officer involved received “refresher training on how to deal with similar situations in the future”, adding that the officer’s behaviour “falls way below the standards we expect.”

The Chief Executive of homeless charity Crisis, Matt Downie, told the BBC that it was “appalling to see such dehumanising treatment”, adding that he was concerned with the police conduct: “If the police behave in this way towards rough sleepers, how do we expect the public to improve in the way they treat rough sleepers?”

“We know there’s a problem here, we know people are regularly abused and that some awful things happen to people on the streets.”

Featured image via Google Maps

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