A jury has been shown new CCTV and bodycam footage of two brothers allegedly assaulting police officers in a fight at Manchester Airport last year.
Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, and his brother, Muhammad Amaad, 26, have been accused of attacking officers who were responding to an incident at a Starbucks in the airport’s Terminal 2 arrivals area on 23 July 2023.
CCTV footage shows Pc Zachary Marsden and Pc Ellie Cook, who were both armed, and unarmed Pc Lydia Ward approaching the brothers in the airport’s car park after the incident.
The prosecution say Amaaz resisted as police tried to move him away from a payment machine in the car park to arrest him, and then his brother, Amaad, intervened.
They told the court on Monday that Amaaz threw 10 punches, including one to the face of Pc Ward that knocked her to the floor, and that Amaad aimed six punches at firearms officer Pc Marsden.
Amaaz is also said to have kicked Pc Marsden and twice struck firearms officer Pc Cook with his elbow and punched Pc Marsden from behind and then had hold of him before Pc Cook discharged her Taser device.
Amaaz is alleged to have assaulted the officers causing them actual bodily harm and is also accused of the earlier assault of a member of the public, Abdulkareem Ismaeil, at Starbucks.
Amaad, 26, is alleged to have assaulted Pc Marsden, causing actual bodily harm.
Both men, from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, deny the allegations.
Giving evidence in court, Pc Marsden said he approached the accused with the intention of escorting the suspect from the crowd and to arrest him outside where he would have radio signal.
He said he placed his hands on Amaaz’s left arm, but said he was “met with immediate resistance” and that he felt the suspect “clench his fists”.
Pc Marsden said he realised a change in plan was needed so decided to attempt to handcuff Amaaz, the man wearing the light blue tracksuit.
The officer said he then felt an “immense weight of pressure” to his right side and felt his Glock 17 semi-automatic pistol move across his leg and around his body, and feared someone was “trying to get his gun”.
He then described receiving “blows from all directions” from the second man, causing his glasses to be knocked off his face.
Pc Marsden said he managed to break free from Amaad and deploy his Taser against him before he felt a blow to the head from behind and someone on his back.
When he felt an arm “wrap round my throat” he said he believed there could be a third attacker, he told the court.
He said, at the time, he had not realised his colleague Pc Cook had discharged her Taser at Amaaz as he held on to him. He recalled freeing himself before going down to arrest the man on the floor.
Prosecutor Paul Greaney KC asked the officer about suggestions that he stamped on Amaaz’s head. Pc Marsden denied this.
Pc Marsden told the court: “He (Amaaz) ignored my commands to put his arms around his back. His chest lifted off the floor and his head towards me.
“He was attempting to get off the floor. I needed to deliver one strike to the facial region to stun the subject.
“Using the soft-laced part of my boot I delivered a kick to the facial region, which would buy me valuable seconds in order to take control and hopefully dissuade the subject from trying to get up again.”
The trial continues on Tuesday when Pc Marsden will be cross-examined by the defence.
