Officer keeps job after punching 14-year-old boy during school fisticuffs

A police constable who kneed a 14-year-old boy in the stomach and punched him the face has been allowed to keep his job after being found guilty of gross misconduct.

PC Kehinde Meshe has been handed a final written warning following an incident at a school in south-east London on 29 April 2015.

Meshe, based within the Transformation Directorate, was on duty as a Safer School officer in Blackfriars when he grabbed the boy's arm after he refused to stop taking part in a playground game he considered to be "reckless and disruptive".

There was then an altercation between the pair, during which Meshe pushed the boy against a wall and kneed him in the stomach.

The pupil then hit Meshe in the face and the officer punched him back before they were pulled apart by school staff.

Meshe attended a public misconduct hearing to answer allegations his actions amounted to a breach of the Met's standards of professional behaviour in respect of use of force, authority, respect, courtesy and discreditable conduct.

The panel ruled that Meshe had acted without self-restraint and that his use of force was wrong. He was issued a final written warning after he was found to have committed gross misconduct but due to his previous good character the panel accepted the incident was an isolated lapse of judgement.

The internal misconduct proceeding was launched by Met Police after Meshe was acquitted of assault at West London Magistrates' Court on 13 April 2016.