A police officer who Tasered a runaway suspect during the Covid lockdown has been unable to return to front line duties for five years.
PC Imran Mahmood caused Jordan Walker-Brown, 27, to break his back and left him paralysed after a police chase through Harringay, north London, on May 4, 2020.
The officer had feared Mr Walker-Brown – who was running away and unarmed at the time – had a knife and believed he needed to be ‘contained’.
Following the incident, PC Mahmood was placed on restricted duties, barring him from working on the front line.
The officer was cleared of GBH following a trial in May last year, although he is set to appear at a misconduct hearing next month.
There are currently hundreds of police officers who have been suspended on full pay over alleged wrongdoing – at a cost of £2.6million a month.
Allegations against the 750 officers ordered to stay away from work while they are being investigated range from sexual misconduct to brutality and corruption.
PC Mahmood pictured attending Southwark Crown Court last year before he was found not guilty of unlawfully inflicting grievous bodily harm on Jordan Walker-Brown
Jordan Walker-Brown who was left paralysed when Metropolitan Police constable Imran Mahmood, 36, tasered him during Covid lockdown
Giving evidence at the crown court trial in 2023, PC Mahmood described how he was one of a group of nine officers from the Met’s territorial support group who were in a police vehicle when they saw Mr Walker-Brown walking down the road.
He told jurors he thought Mr Walker-Brown was wearing a small bag around his waist, and his suspicion was ‘heightened’ because such bags were often used to conceal weapons or drugs and Mr Walker-Brown did not seem to be out for shopping or exercise.
The court heard that PC Mahmood and a colleague began following him on foot when Mr Walker-Brown started running away from them, climbing on top of a wheelie bin and scrambling on to an adjacent wall.
It was at this point Mr Walker-Brown was Tasered, fell and hit his head on a footpath.
The moment PC Mahmood fired his Taser at Mr Walker-Brown was captured on body-worn camera.
Prosecutor Ben Fitzgerald KC told jurors: ‘Mr Walker-Brown did not present a physical threat to Mr Mahmood or anyone else. He did not produce a weapon or try to attack anyone; he was trying to get away.
‘Mr Mahmood fired the Taser at the moment when it looked as if Mr Walker-Brown might get away over the wall.
‘He discharged the Taser when Mr Walker-Brown was up on the wheelie bin, with the obvious risk of injury from an uncontrolled fall, which is exactly what happened, with catastrophic results.
Mr Walker-Brown (pictured) was unarmed at the time he was shot with the Taser. He has now been forced to use a wheelchair following the incident in May 2020
‘Mr Mahmood should not have used the Taser. It was not, the prosecution say, a reasonable use of force in the circumstances he faced. It was not lawful.’
The officer had received training highlighting the fact that Tasers cause ‘intense pain’ and trigger an inability to control the muscles, and that Tasering someone at a height is especially risky.
However the cop was cleared after he told the jury Mr Walker-Brown had reached for his waistband while running and did not respond when asked to stop.
PC Mahmood denied he acted illegally, saying he believed Mr Walker-Brown was cornered with a knife and ‘about to attack’.
In a press release from his lawyers, Mr Walker-Brown said he ran from the police because he had ‘a small amount of cannabis in my possession for personal use’ but said he believed he was more at risk of being stopped by police because he is black.
