Shocking moment police officers drag passenger off busy London train for refusing to wear face mask
- Officer is seen speaking to a young man on London Overground train yesterday
- Passenger put on a mask after repeatedly being asked to by transport police
- The officer then followed the passenger down the train as an argument ensued
- He was removed from the train moment after saying ‘you’ll have to drag me off’
Police officers were filmed dragging a passenger off a busy London train after he was repeatedly asked to wear a face mask.
Footage believed to have been taken on a London Overground train yesterday starts with a British Transport Police officer ordering the young passenger to wear a face mask, or risk being kicked off.
When the officer initially warns him, the passenger replies: ‘You’ll have to drag me off, man. What’s mandem doing?’
When a mask is eventually passed to the passenger, who appears to be in a group, the officer tells them: ‘Put it on, keep it on stop giving me the backchat, and all of you spread out. You’re not meant to be in a group this big.’
At the start of the footage, the officer can be heard repeatedly asking a passenger to put on his mask, threatening to remove him from the London Overground train if he doesn’t. The passenger replies: ‘You’ll have to drag me off, man’
Eventually the young male is passed a mask, but he takes his time to put it over his face on the busy train
As the passenger tries to put the mask on, the officer steps forward and says: ‘Stop trying to front me out my friend, this is not going to end well for you.’
After donning the mask, the passenger complains loudly about the police officer: ‘I saw this man staring at us! This guy!’
The policeman responds: ‘Yeah because we have 45,000 people who have died of this disease, my friend’.
The officer eventually steps up to the man and says: ‘Stop trying to front me out my friend, this is not going to end well for you’
The pair continue to argue even after the mask was put on, and moments later footage appears to record the officer being called a ‘p********’
In another clip, the cop tells the passenger that the other commuters on the packed train think that he is being an ‘idiot’ for not wearing a mask and arguing about it.
The passenger is then heard calling the cop a ‘p********’. This enrages the police officer who forcibly pushes the passenger through the crowds of people and kicks him off the train.
There is a huge commotion and arguing between the cops and the passengers as they are evacuated off the train.
The clip emerged on social media yesterday and has divided online users – with some defending the policeman’s action whilst others have supported the quarrelsome passenger.
Several individuals backed the cop with one online user commenting: ‘I hate to say it but policeman in the right.’
Another individual similarly said: ‘Just wear a mask. Isn’t that hard’ – whilst another person wrote: ‘If he put a mask on and was quiet that whole situation would have been resolved but he thought he was clever’.
The office then marches down the packed train after the passenger, and kicks him off at the next station
Onlookers recorded the officer appearing to grapple with the passenger, who was wearing a mask at this stage
Surrounded by a group, thought to be the passenger’s friend, the officer then urges them to leave the station in South East London
However others believed that the policeman was in the wrong, with one social media user explaining: ‘He [the passenger] ultimately put on a mask though after being provided one.
‘The officer reacted to the comment and he escalated it by moving to him and taking him off the train. You can back chat the police, it’s not against the law.’
Likewise another individual defended the passenger saying the cop just wanted an excuse to admonish the passenger: ‘So he put the mask on and still the officer didn’t leave him alone ok then. Blatantly wanted to nick him regardless.’
MailOnline has approached British Transport Police for a comment.