Safer Schools officer pinned pupil, 14, against wall, kneed him in stomach and punched him

An on-duty Safer Schools police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after a playground game he organised ended in a punch-up. School staff were forced to break up the incident in which a 14-year-old was allegedly pinned against a wall, kneed in the stomach and hit by Police Constable Kehinde Meshe in April 2016. A misconduct hearing was told that PC Meshe – based within the Transformation Directorate of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) tasked with engaging with communities – used force towards a student that was “unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable”. According to PC Meshe, the schoolboy had been behaving in a “reckless and disruptive” manner on a school playground in London’s Blackfriars district, then refused to stop taking part in the game when asked. The panel heard the MPS officer then grabbed the boy by the arm and pushed him against a playground wall, before kneeing him in the stomach. When the boy reacted by hitting PC Meshe in the face, the officer retaliated and punched him back. The hearing decided the officer’s conduct breached the force`s standards of professional behaviour in respect of use of force, authority, respect and courtesy and discreditable conduct. He was served with a final written warning after gross misconduct was proven. “Having considered all the evidence, the panel, led by an independent chair, concluded that PC Meshe had acted without self-control and his use of force was wrong,” the MPS statement said. “They accepted his previous good character and that this was an isolated lapse of judgment.” In April 2016, the Lambeth-based officer was acquitted of assault at a trial West London Magistrates` Court.