Thames Valley Police PCs used unnecessary force after M4 chase, panel told

The two officers had pursued the man along the M4 with other colleagues in June 2021

Two officers who tasered and kicked a driver after a high-speed chase on a motorway used "unnecessary force" to detain him, a panel has heard.

The suspect was taken to hospital after PCs Rory Mayes and Leigh Pateman helped arrest him on the M4 in Berkshire on 22 June 2021.

The driver eventually stopped and got out of his car on the hard shoulder between junctions 6 and 7 eastbound near Slough at about 16:00 BST.

Both officers deny wrongdoing.

The man had been reported by other motorists for driving a Suzuki Swift dangerously on the M4 in South Wales but only stopped as the Thames Valley Police (TVP) officers pursued him on the Berkshire stretch of the motorway.

'Penalty kick'

Dashcam footage from police cars showed the Suzuki zig-zagging between vehicles at speeds of about 90mph in a 50mph roadworks zone.

The Suzuki was eventually driven on to the hard shoulder which was blocked off from the rest of the motorway by concrete barriers and the driver got out of the car.

PC Mayes got out of the police car from the passenger side, which was parked in the inside lane of the motorway as traffic behind the officers came to a standstill.

He tasered the man just before PC Pateman, who had been driving, used his own taser on the driver twice.

Footage showed both officers kicking the suspect as he was lying on the ground.

Stephen Morley, for TVP, said PC Pateman "looked like he'd taken a penalty kick".

But he acknowledged the incident was "high risk" for the officers because of its location, the chase and the man's earlier behaviour.

PCs Mayes and Pateman are based at TVP's headquarters in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

The misconduct hearing is expected to conclude later this week.