POLICE OFFICER GUILTY OF ASSAULT ON TEEN DURING CARE HOME INCIDENT
A police officer has been found guilty of assault after grabbing a boy by the throat while he was on duty during an incident at a care home.Great Manchester Police Constable Benjamin Heppenstall, 33, attacked the 16-year-old boy in January 2021 after the boy refused to comply with his instructions, Bolton Crown Court heard.Body-worn footage showed Heppenstall pulling the boy's T-shirt off before forcefully grabbing his neck a second time.Heppenstall, who risks suspension from his position based in Wigan, will face sentencing on 27 November.The officer had responded to a disturbance at a care home for young people in Wigan where threats were allegedly made to two female staff members, police stated.'Defenceless boy'The court was told that after initially arresting two suspects, Heppenstall told the sitting teenager to leave the room and go to bed.The boy refused, and Heppenstall then pulled him up by his arm, placed his hand around the boy’s neck, and used verbal abuse.One of the care home workers intervened and tried to pull Heppenstall away.Greater Manchester Police mentioned that Heppenstall's duties were restricted during January 2021.Det Ch Insp Iqbal Ahmed criticized the excessive force used, stating: “This was a shocking use of unnecessary and excessive force by Benjamin Heppenstall on a defenceless teenage boy who absolutely should not have been treated this way.”
