West Midlands Police in the UK are investigating shocking footage of an arrest in which an electric Taser was allegedly used on a 14-year-old boy in a school uniform.
“His asthma, his asthma! Look, he can’t breathe. “He’s just a kid,” one hears in a shocking video posted on Tuesday
On Tuesday, British police officers in the Birmingham area said a “fight” broke out during an intervention late Monday afternoon over a “civil matter between neighbors,” a West Midlands police spokesman said, according to The Independent.
But the conflict apparently escalated, as can be seen from the video, viewed more than 400,000 times on X, which shows one of the police officers holding a teenager’s head, followed by a screaming crowd. The boy then appears to release his hold before being tasered to the ground.
Deeply disturbing footage of a 14-year-old boy being choked, tasered and arrested by West Midlands Police yesterday.
I know the clip gives little insight into what happened and I hope the police release an update soon. pic.twitter.com/f3dHBVo6FZ
— Michael Morgan (@mikecmorgan) October 17, 2023
The 14-year-old boy and a 37-year-old man were reportedly arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer, while the teenager is also suspected of criminal damage and threatening to cause criminal harm, according to the BBC.
“Disturbing footage shows a 14-year-old black child being choked and verbally abused by West Midlands Police, highlighting the urgent need to end police brutality and excessive use of force,” said Black Lives Matter UK further
For its part, a spokesman for the Independent Office for Police Conduct said it was in contact with police about the incident and that a “thorough” assessment needed to be carried out “to determine any additional action that needs to be taken.”