Police officer faces investigation for giving wheelie-pulling ‘thug’ the middle finger

A POLICE officer faces being investigated by his own force for giving the middle finger to a ‘thug’ on a motorcycle.

A video posted on the private Instagram page @bikelife_birmingham_ showed the rider waving at the officer as he pulled a wheelie on a bike with no number plate.

The PC, driving a van in the opposite direction, appears to raise his middle finger in response.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman told the Birmingham Mail: “This behaviour is unacceptable and falls below the high professional standards we expect from all police officers and staff.

“We will always thoroughly investigate when we receive information about those that fall below those professional standards, to ensure the public can continue to have the utmost confidence in the force.

“Unfortunately, we are unable to identify the individual based on the information provided at this time. However, the video has been flagged to the relevant teams and we will investigate.”

But the comment prompted Twitter users to defend the officer, including West Midlands Chief Constable Dave Thompson, who wrote: ‘I feel the objective should be to find the thug on the bike not the officer. Leave it with me.’

Police are investigating https://t.co/9CsbXUkN1K

— Birmingham Mail (@birminghammail) August 15, 2017

please see my reply. I feel the objective should be to find the thug on the bike not the officer. Leave it with me.

— Dave Thompson (@DaveThompsonCC) August 15, 2017

Chief Constable Thompson was replying to tweets criticising the force, including one which said: ‘So not only do the bosses prevent cops dealing with law-breaking scum, they launch a major investigation into cops being rude to them...’

We know who we back. How about you?

So not only do the bosses prevent cops dealing with law-breaking scum, they launch a major investigation into cops being rude to them... https://t.co/Fv8vTuFHVN

— Peter Kirkham (@Peter_Kirkham) August 15, 2017