PC accused of using excessive force during arrest

A West Midlands Police officer has been charged with assault, after an Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation into allegations he used excessive force during an arrest in Wolverhampton.

PC Brandon Harrison faces a count of actual bodily harm and one of using Pava incapacitant spray against a man on 16 August.

The IOPC watchdog said the officer was accused of punching a man wanted for failing to attend court to the head and inappropriately spraying Pava into his face at close range while he was restrained in a police cell.

Harrison also faces a charge under the Computer Misuse Act 1990, and is due at Kidderminster Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Officers had attended the address after the force received a dropped 999 call in which a disturbance was heard in the background, the police watchdog said.

It also stated the charges followed a mandatory conduct referral made by West Midlands Police to the IOPC on 8 September last year.

The charge under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 relates to an allegation he recorded footage from police body-worn video on to his mobile phone without policing purpose.

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