The kicking stars 2:45 into the video
1st june 2003

A police officer filmed on CCTV kicking a handcuffed suspect on a Manchester street has been cleared by a police disciplinary panel who concluded that the officer used "justifiable and reasonable" force. Lawyers for Mr King condemned the ruling as "outrageous". They said it made a mockery of the police complaints procedure.

Mr King, a former Army boxing champion from Gorton, was filmed by the CCTV camera smashing a bus shelter in Manchester centre during a drunken night out.

The camera showed him being approached by police officers, subdued with a baton, CS spray and then arrested, handcuffed and pulled to the ground.It was then that one of the officers was filmed kicking Mr King.

Mr King pleaded guilty to criminal damage, disorderly behaviour and resisting a police officer on duty when he appeared before Manchester magistrates. During the course of his arrest Mr King suffered a broken tooth and bruising to his body and groin. He was ordered to serve one day's detention and pay £100 compensation for damaging the bus shelter after pleading guilty.

After the CCTV footage of his arrest was shown to the court an investigation was launched into the conduct of the arresting officers. West Yorkshire Police conducted the investigation, but the Crown Prosecution Service decided there was insufficient evidence to charge any of the officers involved.

Manchester-based lawyer Robert Lizar who is acting for Mr King, said: "This is just the sort of decision which brings the police complaints process into complete disrepute." But Paul Kelly, of the Greater Manchester Police Federation which represented the officer, said he should never have faced a disciplinary hearing in the first place