Family tell of ‘violent altercation’ with police at Manchester Airport
The family involved in a struggle with uniformed officers have outlined their version of events at a press conference.
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Your support makes all the difference.The family at the centre of an incident at Manchester Airport in which a police officer allegedly kicked and stamped on a young man have outlined their version of events.
Following what Greater Manchester Police described as a “violent altercation” at the Starbucks cafe at Terminal 2 arrivals on July 23, a male officer and two female officers approached 19-year-old Fahir Amaaz as he paid for car parking.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday alongside Mr Amaaz; his brother Muhammad Amaad, 25; and their mother, Shameem Akhtar, 56; the family’s solicitor, Aamer Anwar, said the three officers approached without identifying themselves and “immediately grabbed” Mr Amaaz by the wrist.
Mr Anwar said: “The male officer proceeds to grab Fahir by the neck and it is alleged that he hit Fahir’s head into the ticket machine at which point the other son, Amaad, asked the police to move his hand from his neck as he was not resisting arrest.
“When Amaad asked the officer to remove his neckhold, it is alleged that the male officer then proceeded to punch Amaad twice in the side of his head at which point Amaad falls on to the ground.
“Mrs Akthar also falls to the ground as the officer pulls her and Amaad down due to the fact that she was holding Amaad from behind.
“The officer, whilst punching Amaad, pushes her to the ground and she looked up and saw the officer firing his Taser at Amaad at which point she screamed, ‘they’ve killed my son’ in Urdu.
“As you can see, pandemonium breaks loose.
Another officer then came and sat on top of Amaad and pinned his head down to the floor and proceeded to threaten him
“Mrs Akhtar saw Fahir running towards the officer and saw that he is also tasered from behind and lands face first, at which point the officer falls down with him.
“Mrs Akhtar then goes to Fahir and can be seen leaning over her son as he lies motionless on the ground.
“At no point do you see on the video Fahir reaching for any officer’s firearms as later claimed, nor is he, in fact, doing anything other than lying motionless face down.
“It is at this point as the officers stands up and he proceeds to run-kick Fahir in the face, Mrs Akhtar then tried to pull her son’s head away and as the officer then attempts to stamp on his head.”
Mr Anwar said the officer then placed his knee on a “limp” Mr Amaaz and turned his attention to Mrs Akhtar who it is alleged he used his Taser as a weapon to strike her in the face.
The lawyer went on: “Even though she had been attacked, she struggled and stood up and saw the same officer that had allegedly attacked her and her son, Fahir, then proceeds to kick her son Amaad and drag him down to the floor and use his Taser, again, as a weapon to hit her son on his head.
“Another officer then came and sat on top of Amaad and pinned his head down to the floor and proceeded to threaten him.”
Later, both Mrs Akhtar’s sons were taken away from the immediate area, said Mr Anwar.
Mr Anwar went on: “It it is alleged a male officer came and kneels down next to Amaad and it is alleged he said, ‘you dirty fucking c***, you think you can hit my officers, I am going to kill you when I see you, in my uniform or out’.
“Hearing this, Fahir said to the officer, ‘why is your body camera not on?’
“He says, ‘I’ll show you why’ and grabs him by the neck and handcuffs and lifts him up. He proceeds to push his head so far down where it reaches his knees and drags him along, making him walk.
“It is alleged he takes him around the corner where he can’t be seen by anyone else or his brother and throws him face first onto the floor and puts all his weight on top of him with his knee over his neck.
“He then says something along the lines of, ‘do you want my camera on now you dirty c***?’ At this point fearing for his life, all Fahir claims he is thinking is that he is going to kill him. He stays quiet and doesn’t say a word.
“There is, of course, much more alleged incidents and verbal abuse that takes place that should be on CCTV or police cams – if switched on, of course.”