AN investigation into the arrest of a man at an anti-fracking demonstration camp will be overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Protestor Dr Steven Peers lodged an official complaint after Sgt David Kehoe accused him of drink-driving to the site of an anti-fracking demonstration at Barton Moss in Salford.

His arrest for failing to provide a specimen for analysis was captured on video footage recorded by Dr Steven Peers, which has now been watched more than 200,000 times on YouTube.

 

The video appears to show Dr Peers being pushed to the floor during the incident.

Dr Peers was arrested at the scene and charged with failing to provide a specimen of breath, but the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the charge due to lack of evidence.

The IPCC has referred the matter back to Greater Manchester Police to investigate, but will oversee the probe.

An IPCC spokesman said: “The IPCC made inquiries with GMP after footage of the arrest of Dr Peers appeared in the media. GMP then referred the matter to us.

“Following an assessment we have asked GMP to carry out that investigation which will be supervised by the IPCC’s counter corruption team.

“The IPCC will agree the terms of reference and need to be satisfied the investigation meets those terms before it is signed off.”