A Slough police officer has been sacked after showing ‘a pattern’ of violent and abusive behaviour towards people he placed under arrest.
Former PC Sulaiman Ahmed faced a misconduct hearing earlier this month for two incidents in 2022 and 2023.
A misconduct hearing ruled that he had shown ‘an excessive use of force, gratuitous use of violence, inappropriate use of Captor spray and aftercare, and unnecessary abusive language’ both times.
In the first incident PC Ahmed was found to have punched a man undergoing a mental health crisis in the head, sprayed him and sworn at him.
He had been called to the Premier Inn with another officer, PC Mughal, at around 1:30am on August 8, 2022 following calls from a member of the public. This turned out to be the man, named as Person A.
Person A had booked a room at the Premier Inn, but had caused a disturbance. He had called 999 claiming that a woman was on fire in the hotel, which wasn’t true.
PC Mughal realised by talking to Person A that he was undergoing a mental health crisis, while PC Ahmed spoke to staff at the Premier Inn.
Person A kept trying to make 999 calls despite being told to stop. And when PC Ahmed returned he attempted to arrest him for wasting police time. PC Mughal did not tell PC Ahmed he believed Person A was undergoing a mental health crisis.
During a struggle, PC Ahmed punched Person A several times in the head, sprayed him in the face at close range, pushed his head into the ground and called him a ‘f*****g idiot’ and a ‘b**l-end’.
The misconduct panel found that several of his actions breached the ‘use of force’ standard of behaviour, failed to provide Person A with sufficient aftercare for the effects of the spray, and that his language also breached behaviour standards.
In the second incident PC Ahmed was called to help with the arrest of Yousef Zekari on a residential street on January 9 2023.
Several officers were involved in the arrest as Mr Zekari was resisting a search, and PC Ahmed suspected he may have a weapon or drugs in his waistband.
PC Ahmed punched Mr Zekari several times in the head as he was being restrained, sprayed him in the face at close range and swore at him, including calling him a ‘f*****g idiot’, a ‘f*****g d**k’.
The panel accepted that some of the punches to the head were justified. But they also found that PC Ahmed was not justified in punching Mr Zekari in the head and spraying him while he was restrained on the ground.
They noted that between the two incidents on January 2 2023, PC Ahmed’s superior Inspector Elliot had warned him about his temper during incidents. They found the incidents ‘demonstrated a pattern of behaviour over a period of five months’.
The panel ruled that he should be dismissed ‘to protect public confidence in and the reputation of the police service’.
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