Shocking video shows teenagers attacking police in Harrogate McDonald’s

This video reveals the shocking moment three teenage girls attacked two police officers in McDonald’s in Harrogate.

The footage shows punches being thrown at the officers on the first floor of the fast-food restaurant.

The video was taken last year. The Stray Ferret has waited to publish it until legal proceedings against all three girls had concluded.

The PCSOs both needed hospital treatment for facial injuries following the attack, which happened around 5pm on April 1 last year.

The three girls were aged 13, 14, and 15 when the attack took place. They cannot be named because of their age.

The officers had arrived on the scene to ask the girls to leave because they had breached an exclusion order preventing them from entering the building.

Two of the three girls were dealt with by police and the courts last year. One was dealt with out of court through a youth outcomes panel, while another was given a 12-month referral order and told she had narrowly avoided a custodial sentence.

The third, aged 15, was due to appear at York Magistrates’ Court at the end of January. However, when a witness failed to appear, the case against her was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service.

A court hearing in October had heard one of the PCSOs had required many months of treatment for her injuries and was still waiting to find out if she would need an operation.

The other PCSO had since left the force, the court was told.

A North Yorkshire Police spokesperson said:

“Already this year we have had an unacceptable number officers assaulted while carrying out their jobs. In our eyes one officer assault is one too many.

“We will never tolerate officers being subjected to this type of behaviour and we will never view it as ‘part of the job.’ When an officer puts on their uniform to start their shift, by doing so they are not passively accepting that they will be subjected to this kind of treatment.

“However, very sadly many of them fully expect that at some point, someone will attempt to harm them when they are doing their job, protecting the community.

“North Yorkshire Police takes the safety of its workforce incredibly seriously. We will ensure that cases of this nature are thoroughly investigated and we will always look to prosecute offenders under laws made to protect emergency service workers.”

Read more:

Town centre crime

It was one of a number of incidents that led Harrogate BID to begin a campaign calling for business owners and shoppers to report all anti-social behaviour and crime to North Yorkshire Police.

The BID argued people weren’t reporting minor incidents in the town centre, leading to crime statistics that failed to fully reflect what was happening on the streets – and meaning police were not focusing their efforts in the area.

Harrogate BID manager Matthew Chapman said:

“This was an appalling incident, but thankfully acts of violence like this are a rare occurrence in Harrogate town centre.

“Harrogate has a reputation for being safe and welcoming, however it’s not immune from low level crime and anti-social behaviour.

“Last year, after meeting with the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, we launched our ‘Report a Crime’ campaign, urging those who see criminal behaviour to report it online to North Yorkshire Police. And this is a message that we are keen to repeat.”

Please note that an earlier version of this article contained a video which has since been removed at the request of our regulator, Impress, to avoid any risk of identifying children under the age of 18 that had been involved in criminal proceedings and/or had not consented to being identified.