TEENAGERS who attacked a policeman after he asked one of them to pick up litter behaved worse than animals, the officer said yesterday.
Two officers were set upon by a mob, some wearing school uniforms, after they asked a teenage girl to pick up a fast-food wrapper she had dropped.
She picked it up but then pointedly threw it on the ground again as a large crowd gathered around he
r and the two policemen.
A 15-year-old girl then jumped on the 34-year-old officer and repeatedly bit him on the shoulder and torso.
A colleague who ran to his aid was pulled to the ground and kicked by others as several older men and women joined the fracas in a shopping precinct in Croydon, south London.
At one point more than 30 people were involved in the fight in North End.
The constable, who was recovering from bite injuries at home yesterday, said the incident, on Wednesday afternoon, quickly escalated out of control.
He said: "They swarmed at the start. They feel they can overcome you like a gang. It was a good 30-plus youths.
"It is the behaviour. It is unbelievable. I find it amazing that someone could bite another human being like that.
"They were acting like animals, but I hate using the term 'animals' because they would not do that. Animals have a reason for doing something. This is just nonsense. It is difficult to think that they could do something like this to a policeman."
Detectives were studying CCTV footage of the attack yesterday to identify those involved. A 15-year-old girl was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. She has since been released on bail.
The officer said that when the girl's parents arrived at the police station they complained the start of her summer holiday had been disrupted.
The full article contains 320 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
