Pensioner with dementia suffers cuts and bruises being wrestled to the ground and cuffed by police
A GRANDAD with dementia suffered cuts and bruises after he was handcuffed and locked in a police van.
Former boxing coach Patrick Hogan, 86, who once trained Audley Harrison, was allegedly wrestled to the ground when he refused a search.
He has a mild form of Alzheimer’s and sometimes cannot talk.
The pensioner only managed to tell his family what had happened two days later.
Mr Hogan was exercising in a park in Northolt, North West London, when officers were called to reports of someone acting suspiciously.
He suffered cuts to his arms and wrists after being wrestled and bundled into the back of a police van.
He was taken to hospital for a mental health check. Son Eugene, 51, said: “They tried to search him and when he struggled they wrestled with him. I’m disgusted.”
“They should’ve called an ambulance but instead they physically abused him.
“We are just in shock, everybody we have shown the pictures to have said the police cannot get away with this.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “At approximately 09:35hrs on Sunday, 30 June officers were called by a member of the public who was concerned about the behaviour of an elderly man in the vicinity of Alexandra Avenue, Harrow.
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“Officers attended and tried to engage with the man, believed aged in his 80s. As they spoke to him, he became agitated and a decision was taken to detain him under the Mental Health Act and take him to a place of safety.
“He was placed in handcuffs and taken by police to a hospital for a mental health assessment – his family were informed and he was discharged into their care.
The Met said a complaint from the family had been resolved.
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