Manchester Airport incident: Andy Burnham urges public not to rush to judgement after new airport footage emerges
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Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has urged people not to rush to judgement after new video footage emerged showing the run-up to a now-viral scene in which a police officer appears to kick a man in the head.
The original video of part of the incident on 23 July at Manchester Airport sparked protests in the city centre and in Rochdale.
A new 30-second clip shows a group of people standing around a ticket machine in a car park at Terminal 2.
Three police officers – one male and two female – restrain a man wearing a matching light blue top and shorts.
A second man, wearing a black T-shirt, circles the male officer and appears to begin to attack him.
The pair then seem to begin punching one another while the first man hits the two female officers multiple times in the clip obtained by the Manchester Evening News.
The man in the black T-shirt is tased by the male officer, at which point the second man looks to have knocked the two other officers down and proceeds to punch the male officer in the back of the head.
After the male officer and the first man wrestle to the ground, he appears to be tased by the female officers. The male officer gets up and appears to kick the man in the head, which is where the video ends.
The original video appeared to show the officer then stamp on the head of the man.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said after the release of the new footage “this is a complicated situation with two sides to it” and urged people “not to rush to judgement”.
Mr Burnham said: “Following incidents in the run-up to the footage people have seen, four individuals were arrested and are now on police bail. It is frustrating that we have not been able to put more video into the public domain but that is because this is a live investigation.
“People now need to step back and allow the IOPC’s [Independent Office for Police Conduct’s) criminal investigation into the officer’s conduct to move forward, alongside the parallel GMP investigation into other potential offences, so that a complete picture can be presented.
“Given all these investigations are ongoing, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
The mayor said there were three stages to the incident, with a prior dispute taking place on a plane before the footage seen by the public.
He told Sky News on Sunday: “It’s a complicated situation, a very violent situation, actually, and there were issues on both sides.
“That’s why I asked other people not to rush to judgement because of the complexity of it and, simply, everyone who’s having their say, nobody has got all of the facts. Nobody is in possession of the complete picture.”
There were two nights of protests in Rochdale and Manchester city centre after the original clip was shared on social media.
The IOPC said on Friday the Greater Manchester Police officer had been advised he was under criminal investigation for assault.
An officer was served with a disciplinary notice to inform him he was being investigated for potential gross misconduct for a number of alleged breaches of police professional standards, including his use of force, a spokesperson said.
IOPC regional director Catherine Bates said: “We can confirm we are conducting a criminal investigation into the use of force during events which took place on 23 July at Manchester Airport. We are arranging to interview a police constable under criminal caution as soon as possible.
“I have today met one of the men who was involved and his family members to outline our investigation and we will continue to update them and Greater Manchester Police as our inquiries progress. We will be speaking to the man involved in the second incident as soon as we can.
“The family has asked me to reiterate their call for peace and wish to stress that they do not condone any acts of violence as a result of this incident.
“We are meeting with a number of community leaders in Rochdale this afternoon to listen to their concerns and explain our role.”