Anish Vij
Warning: This article contains distressing content that some readers may find upsetting
New bodycam footage shows the aftermath of a police officer who was floored with a punch to the face as she tried to arrest an assault suspect at Manchester Airport.
Pc Lydia Ward told Liverpool Crown Court this week that she had 'never experienced' such violence in her police career after suffering a broken nose during an incident at Manchester Airport's Terminal 2 car park on 23 July last year.
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Ward and two Greater Manchester Police colleagues approached Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, near a ticket machine following reports he had headbutted someone at a nearby Starbucks.
Warning: Graphic footage
When officers tried to detain him, Amaaz allegedly resisted, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, is said to have joined in.
The prosecution claims the pair, from Rochdale, used 'a high level of violence' as Ward said their aim was to remove Amaaz from the crowd.
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Ward testified that Amaaz started to 'tense up and resist' when she and Pc Zachary Marsden and Pc Ellie Cook took hold of him.
She told the jury: “Then things escalated very quickly. It just went from nought to a hundred. My attention was mainly on Mr Amaaz.
"However, I was aware the larger male, Mr Amaad, had come over and there was some sort of fracas between him and Pc Marsden and Pc Cook and they were trying to get him away so they could affect the arrest.
“I was trying to keep hold of Mr Amaaz’s arm and get it behind his back so I could get some cuffs on him.”
The officer claimed Pc Marsden fell or was pushed towards some seats, and that Mr Amaaz then kicked out at her colleague.
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“The man in blue started booting him, kicking him really hard, and I was trying to pull him off,” she added.
“I tried to grab him off so he could stop kicking Pc Marsden. All I remember then is that he turned and he punched me straight in the face. I can’t really remember where it landed but I know where my injuries were. I remember falling on the floor and everything went black.”
Pc Ward, who was a former special constable with Lancashire Police who joined GMP in 2018, said: “Never in my whole time in the police service had that level of violence been used on me before.
“It felt really hard. As I came round, all I could feel was blood pouring out of my nose. I was just thinking he has done something to my nose, face area. I didn’t know what has happened.”
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Amaaz is accused of causing actual bodily harm to Pc Marsden and Pc Ward. He is also accused of the assault of Pc Cook and the earlier Starbucks assault of Abdulkareem Ismaeil.
Amaad is additionally alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men have denied the allegations.