The Metropolitan police are facing criticism over a stop and search of a young black man caught on video in which several officers wrestle him to the floor before one uses CS spray while he is on the ground.

The man, aged 23, was later found to be innocent of the main reason given for the use of the controversial stop and search powers, the Met said.

Following the circulation of the video on social media, the chair of a stop and search scrutiny panel set up by the mayor of London’s office for policing and crime called for an investigation and told the Guardian that the suspect had been “taken down to the ground like an animal”.

On Friday night, the Met confirmed that it would conduct an internal inquiry: “The incident has been referred to the Met’s directorate of professional standards.”

The incident happened on Thursday afternoon in north-west London. As the man is sprayed with the CS spray, he shouts “I can’t breathe”.

The video begins with four officers surrounding the man who is on the ground with his arms behind his back, with officers seemingly in control of him. He is then pulled to his feet.

The suspect shouts at them to “calm down” and appears baffled as to why he is being grappled with over a cannabis joint.

An officer shouts at him to “release your hand now” and another officer makes a comment about a knife.

The incident occurred shortly after 3pm in a street in Brent, north-west London. Bystanders stopped to watch it unfold.

In the video, the suspect is heard to shout “don’t kick my foot’” at an officer and the situation escalates as more officers join the melee. A woman bystander shouts at officers that “he’s not resisting” and warns officers they are placing his life in danger. Another woman shouts: “You can’t kick him like that”.

The young man then falls to the ground, surrounded by officers.

One officer can be seen with CS spray and fires it from position a few inches away from the man’s face. The suspect then shouts: “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”

In a statement, the Met said: “At 15:07hrs on Thursday, 4 October, police in Brent attended Craven Park Road, NW10 after receiving information that a man wanted for a GBH [grievous bodily harm] stabbing was in the area. Officers attended and approached the male who was seen to be smoking cannabis. The male was informed that he would be detained for a search.

“He refused to follow instructions and resisted police efforts to restrain him for the search. Due to the nature of the offence, the male was suspected to be involved in, a number of officers worked to detain the male and approved techniques were used to place him in handcuffs.

“CS spray was also used. The male, aged 23, was subsequently arrested on suspicion of possession of cannabis, obstructing a drugs search, two counts of assaulting police and on suspicion of GBH.

“He has since been eliminated as suspect for the GBH offence and has been de-arrested for that offence.

“One uniformed officer who dealt with this incident required basic first aid for minor injuries after attending officers had bottles thrown at them by a crowd which gathered as they worked to subdue the suspect. No further arrests have been made.”

The man in the video was later bailed to appear at Harrow crown court on 2 November.

Stop and search is controversial because it is used disproportionately, official figures have repeatedly shown, against black people. Police chiefs have said it should be done with respect for those being stopped, but the vast majority produce no evidence of crime. Politicians at all levels and police chiefs have accepted that improper use of stop and search can poison community relations and damage the legitimacy of police forces, in whom trust and confidence is lowest among African-Caribbean communities.

The Met said the officers were wearing body cameras throughout the incident.

Katrina Ffrench, who chairs the stop and search scrutiny panel for the mayor’s office of policing and crime, said: “What made those officers think he was a suspect? There should be an investigation. It breaks down confidence. You are in a fright-or-flight response when faced with [that] many officers. He was basically taken down to the ground like an animal.”









