A 19 year old woman, Toni Comer, was arrested last July outside a nigthclub in Sheffield. CCTV footage from the incident shows that during the arrest PC Antony Mulhall striked Ms Comer five times. He claims that he was acting in self defence after her aggressive behaviour.
Ms Comer had earlier been ejected from the nightclub. She admits to having been drinking brandy. Following this she caused damage to a security guard's car. PC Mulhall confronted her at the top of some stairs and a struggle ensued. During this they fell down and PC Mulhall was seen hitting her. He was joined by another police officer and club staff as they handcuffed her and dragged her to a police van, with her trousers round her ankles.
PC Mulhall has said her saw her foam around the mouth and Ms Comer believes she was having an epileptic fit. She has no memory of what happened and has had many previous fits. PC Mulhall states that after hitting her in an attempt to restrain her she did not react so he hit her several more times. He had currently been withdrawn from front-line duties.
South Yorkshire police are outraged at claims that this incident was racially motivated, due to Ms Comer being black. However Ali Dizaei, Chief Superintendent of the National Black Police Association has called for an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate this.