Pc guilty of window-push assault

A police officer was convicted of common assault today after a boy fell through a shop window.

Pc Marcus Ballard, 29, of the Territorial Support Group (TSG) of the Metropolitan Police, was found to have assaulted 16-year-old Onyeka Obi, after he pushed him backwards into a plate glass window which then collapsed.

The officer was cleared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court of a second charge of common assault relating to grabbing the boy's arm in the High Street in Bromley, south east London, last year.

Deputy Senior District Judge Daphne Wickham said the incident happened in February last year after a group of at least 15 teenagers "high on their own excitement" were attempting to return home following a birthday party.

"I accept that when he took hold of his arm - the right arm of Onyeka Obi - to engage his attention, I believe that was to engage his attention, on the evidence I have heard, that was not use of excessive force, therefore the first charge must be dismissed," she said.

But she ruled that Obi had not resisted Pc Ballard.

"This young man was unable to check himself as to what was happening to check his balance," she said.