Police officer cleared of misconduct after being filmed punching man

A police officer who was filmed repeatedly punching a man during an arrest has been cleared of misconduct.

PC Richard Williams held Steven Clark in a headlock before punching him nine times to the head during an incident in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, in May 2023.

Following a week-long hearing a misconduct panel found PC Richard Williams acted with reasonable force, and accepted Clark had been potentially violent, resisted arrest, and had been "off his head" on drugs.

The North Wales Police officer had previously been cleared of assault and intentional strangulation in a criminal trial in 2025.

On Friday the misconduct panel held at the Colwyn Bay police headquarters cleared Williams of eight allegations of gross misconduct relating to the incident.

Williams had been one of two police officers sent to a housing estate following a report of a domestic argument.

The officers were told Clark had been trying to gain entry to a house, and had been "off his head" on cannabis and amphetamines.

The officers were also told Clark had had a previous history of making violent threats, including with a knife.

Bodycam footage and video filmed by neighbours showed Williams grappling with Clark in the front garden of a house during the arrest.

It ended with Williams on top of the man, holding him in a headlock - described as a choke hold in the hearing - and was then captured punching him to the head nine times.

Clark told the hearing he "couldn't breathe" during the incident, and suggested during police interview he had been losing consciousness.

He told the hearing that he remembered very little of what happened.

"I couldn't breathe. He was choking me. He started punching me over and over," he said.

"My body was like jelly... him twisting my neck right back... one officer sitting on me - I couldn't breathe."

The misconduct panel said it agreed with the views of the officers involved that this had been a "high risk situation".

In its finding, the hearing panel said the use of a headlock was "not ideal", but had been reasonable in what was a fast-moving situation and had not been an excessive use of force.

The panel said the nine punches to Clark's face and head by Williams had to be viewed in the context of the entire incident involving an individual who was continuing to resist arrest.

A suggestion that Williams continued to punch Clark as a punishment was also dismissed.

"The panel considered there was insufficient evidence that the blows were as a result of a loss of control," the panel's statement said.

"The strikes were a reasonable use of force."

Allegations that incapacitant spray was inappropriately used, or that Clark had been later dropped and thrown into a police van by Williams, were also rejected.

Throughout the hearing, the police officer told the panel he had been "doing the best I could in a difficult situation".

"I did not feel I did anything wrong," he said.

Concluding the hearing, the panel added: "There is nothing that could amount to a breach of the standards."

North Wales Police said in a statement that it had referred a complaint about the incident as required to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Following a seven-day trial in 2025 that ended in PC Williams being found not guilty, the IOPC directed the force to hold the misconduct hearing.

Speaking after conclusion of the hearing, Deputy Chief Constable Nigel Harrison said the matter was "now at an end".

He said officers were "confronted with violence and danger on a daily basis and carry out their duties under difficult circumstances".

"Rightly there should be public scrutiny but also a recognition of the challenges that they face trying to keep the public safe," he said.

"I look forward to PC Williams returning to full duties."