The man at the centre of an investigation into three Met officers who were filmed striking him and pinning him down while he appeared to have a seizure during a traffic stop has said he should never have been arrested in the first place.

Youness Bentahar, from Bromley in Kent, was wrestled to the ground after he became involved in an argument with police officers on Tuesday in Poplar, east London. He had refused to move his car, which displays a blue badge, from a single yellow line.

Video filmed by onlookers shows one officer appearing to knee him and another hitting him three times with a pair of handcuffs on his torso and upper leg.

Play Video 0:41 Met officers filmed pinning down man apparently having a fit – video

The Metropolitan police say the 38-year-old resisted arrest and have referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Speaking at the office of his lawyers, HSR solicitors in east London, on Friday, Bentahar had a bandage around a broken finger and a mark on his head where one officer had scratched him with handcuffs.

“It’s unfair. It’s unfair for this to happen to anyone,” he said. “The police attacked me for no reason. I am never going to forget it. The world has seen this. I never thought I am going to be on the news and for nothing, just for parking.”

Bentahar was arrested on suspicion of obstruction of the highway, assaulting police and resisting arrest; he was released under investigation on Thursday.

He says he has been unable to sleep, has blurred vision and is suffering headaches. But he is most concerned about his four-year-old son, who, along with his wife and two-year-old daughter, witnessed the attack. “He’s been shaking since that day,” said Bentahar. “He can’t sleep at night as well. He said: ‘Why are they beating you, why are they breaking your neck?’”

Bentahar was wrestled to the floor after telling an officer who tried to handcuff him: “Don’t touch me.” The officer had repeatedly asked him to move his car or produce his driving licence.

Bentahar, who has the blue badge because his daughter has a lung condition requiring oxygen, explained why he did not comply: “The police officer took out handcuffs straight away, ready to arrest me. I parked legally, at 5.30pm, with a blue badge on display, I have a sick daughter in the back, I don’t see what I have done wrong. I just wanted an answer [on] how I have obstructed the road.”

Inquiry begins after police filmed pinning down man ‘having a fit’ Read more

Bentahar, who has been unable to go back to his job in security, said he had only positive interactions with police in the past, but has lost faith in them after what happened this week.

In the video, Bentahar begins having spasms as officers continue to restrain him, while his wife screams: “You’re killing him.” When they eventually release their grip, he lies unconscious on the pavement.

The incident has caused outrage in Aberfeldy Village, Poplar, where there were protests on Friday. Bentahar said he was embarrassed by the attention but added: “I don’t want this to happen to anyone else, of any religion, any colour. We are all the same.”

At the protest, demonstrators held placards that said “we are not anti-police, we are anti-police brutality” and “tackle crime not people”. Speakers took turns to angrily condemn the police officers’ actions.

Doris Ullah, a former civic mayor of Tower Hamlets, east London, said: “The time has come for the bad, rotten apples to be taken out of the basket. What happened here in Aberfeldy is disgraceful and these … officers need to be suspended.”