Afraid I've got to disagree with you today. In the policeman's own words he "struck her as hard as I was physically able with my right fist". That's not acceptable; morally or legally. I've successfully subdued drunks who've kicked off, even people people waving bottles and knives or who were throwing stones through plate glass windows at me (there's something sureal about watching broken glass fly past your nose in slow motion). I've *never* had to hit anybody as "hard as I was physically able". The law requires people who have a legitimate cause to use force to use reasonable force, and no more than *absolutely* necessary. Hitting someone as "hard as physically possible" does not seem to me to be within those bounds when it's one drunk woman vs. a group of coppers. This isn't the first time South Yorks have been caught at it by cctv. Last year they CS'ed a black guy, handcuffed and pinned him down and then one of the officers stood up and decided to give him a few kicks for good measure while he was held down by two other officers. These are the sort of people who give the police a bad name.