Boy, 13, given referral order for police attack in Hackney
A 13-year-old boy who kicked two police officers in a "horrific attack" that was filmed and shared on social media has been handed a referral order.
The teenager struck and shouted at Pcs Andrew Macpherson and Reem Ali in Hackney, east London on June 10.
The incident, which received nationwide media coverage, was condemned by Home Secretary Priti Patel and the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, apologised for his actions and said he had “acted impulsively” after witnessing coverage of events in the US regarding George Floyd.
The death of Mr Floyd in police custody sparked Black Lives Matter and anti-racism protests around the world.
Stratford Youth Court heard that the two police officers were dealing with an incident in Frampton Park Road when the 13-year-old became involved and began filming.
He kicked out at Pc Macpherson, who suffered a graze to the elbow and muscle soreness, and also kicked Pc Ali in the back of her knee.
The boy was sentenced to a nine-month referral order at Stratford Youth Court on Wednesday after pleading guilty at an earlier date to two charges of assault on an emergency worker.
Prosecutor Varinder Hayre said the teenager shouted “black lives matter” during the incident, and told Pc Ali she should be “ashamed” of herself when she began helping her colleague, who was on the ground.
When Pc Ali began to respond to him, the youngster shouted: “Don’t chat to me like that, do you understand. Don’t ever f****** chat to me like that.”
The defendant, who was accompanied to court by his parents, was arrested after another police officer recognised him in the footage.
Stephen McCabe, defending, said the boy had “acted impulsively”, telling the court: “He lost the ability to think clearly and acted in this way.
“He thought something he had seen with George Floyd was going to happen.
“He was watching the events in America and I think this is what flashed through his mind when he saw the incident he got involved with.”
Mr McCabe handed a letter to the bench on behalf of the teenager, who verbally told the court he was sorry for his actions, adding: “I was being a bit selfish at the time. It’s hard to be a police officer.”
Footage of the incident showed a male officer being kicked as he was pinned to the ground, while his female colleague tried to intervene.
Several men, including one with a baseball bat, surrounded the officers while filming on their phones.
Reading Pc Ali’s victim statement, Ms Hayre said that, despite feeling “emotional and shaken”, the officer felt “very lucky” not to be seriously injured.
Pc Ali said she was “not shocked” by the boy’s actions, saying: “Many teens now just want five minutes of fame and perhaps he got the fame he wanted.
“If something horrible had happened to my colleague that day I would have not been able to live with myself.”
She added: “I agree that black lives matter, but so does mine and my colleague’s.”
In a victim statement read to the court on behalf of Pc Macpherson, he said: “They decided to assault police officers without any context or knowledge of what was going on beforehand.
“It’s sad that society has become skewed in its view of policing.”
Speaking at the time of the incident, John Apter, the national chairman of the Police Federation, described the attack as “truly stomach churning”.
“It was horrific to watch because you didn’t know what was going to come next,” he told the BBC.
Watch video below
Chairwoman of the bench Sharon Higgins, sentencing, said it was a “serious offence”, telling the boy: “But we do feel that, as a 13-year-old, this has been a wake-up call for you.
“We understand that your feelings at the time were heightened by the US and the Black Lives Matter movement at the time.”
The boy was also instructed to pay £307 in costs, including £100 compensation to each police officer.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
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