‘Chill out or I’ll choke you’: Police officer accused of arrest threat to face misconduct hearing
PC Graham Kanes allegedly told Hassan Ahmed ‘you’re going to sleep’ during incident in Halifax
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Your support makes all the difference.A police officer accused of telling a suspect he was restraining to "chill out or I'll choke you out" will be brought before a misconduct hearing next week.
PC Graham Kanes is also said to have told Hassan Ahmed “you're going to sleep" during an arrest in Halifax.
The West Yorkshire Police officer is accused of using unreasonable, unnecessary and disproportionate force. A four-day hearing into the incident will begin on Monday.
PC Kanes arrested Mr Ahmed, then aged 27, in the town’s Spring Hall Gardens on 16 August last year, after he reportedly saw the suspect hit someone.
Video footage of the incident posted to social media showed him wrestling the suspect to the floor before placing an arm around his neck when he is alleged to have made the threat to choke his adversary.
Mr Ahmed claims he responded to the force by saying "I can't breathe" and "I give up, I give up".
Now, the hearing will consider whether the actions of PC Kanes amounted to breaches of professional standards.
It will also assess whether a later statement provided by the officer in which he claimed Mr Ahmed punched him was “an accurate or truthful account of what had happened".
In a statement, the force said that, if the allegations were proven, they may constitute gross misconduct "so serious as to justify dismissal".
The incident was initially investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct which considered whether there should be a criminal prosecution.
That was ruled out, however, after the Crown Prosecution Service said there was "insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction".