A police inspector who used “significant” force to restrain a vulnerable 16-year-old filming in a public place near a police station for a YouTube “audit” channel has been found guilty of assault .
Inspector Dean Gittoes used force within 30 seconds of encountering the teenager outside Merthyr Tydfil police station in South Wales, twisting his wrist, forcing him to fall and grabbing him by the hood, making it difficult for the boy to breathe.
The boy, who did not resist and screamed in pain throughout the restraint, was arrested by South Wales Police’s Gittoes on suspicion of offenses under the Terrorism Act and held for seven hours before being released without charge.
Gittoes, 49, was convicted after a three-day trial in Cwmbran. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has concluded that he has a case to answer for serious misconduct.
The court heard the boy was “audited” at the police station on August 20 last year. The audit refers to an online community of people recording and uploading videos of public buildings.
Gittoes, who was off duty at the time and had gone to the station to get a cell phone, asked the boy, “I wonder who you are, what’s your name?” When the boy refused to give his details, the inspector pulled him over and said: “You’re a smart little internet idiot who’s about to learn the hard way.”
He told colleagues he had dealt with a similar incident six weeks earlier, but his bosses thought it was a joke.
Although Gittoes did not arrest the former “auditor,” a video of their interaction was uploaded to the Internet and attracted thousands of views and comments.
He told colleagues: “Anyone I catch now I don’t give them a second chance. I have 36,000 people on the internet telling me shit. I thought screw it this time. I’ll do what I should have done last time.”
Sentencing Gittoes, District Judge Sophie Toms said “significant and unnecessary force” had been used. She said: “You grabbed his arm, you used force against him, you pushed him into the station, you twisted his wrist, you knocked him to the floor, you pushed him against the wall, you grabbed the ‘back of his hoodie and prevented him from breathing properly. He was crying in pain. This was a sustained and unlawful assault on a vulnerable 16-year-old boy.’
Gittoes will be sentenced on October 27.