A football captain who filmed a Croydon man wrestling a police officer whilst his accomplice fly-kicked a constable has apologised for making light of the situation.

Nehemiah Adams, captain of Guildford City, posted a video of 20-year-old Martin Payne, of Brighton Road, resisting arrest following a routine traffic stop in Merton on Saturday evening.

Payne was tackled by a police officer after he attempted to escape along with two other men who were in the vehicle.

As one officer grappled with Payne on the floor, one of the men fly-kicked a female constable who was assisting.

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"South London at night..LOL"

Mr Adams, who began his career at Croydon F.C, posted the clip on twitter with the caption "South London at night....LOL."

The viral video drew criticism from twitter users, who condemned Mr Adams for the tone of his caption and for failing to intervene.

A statement published by Guildford City said: "As a club we are horrified at the content of the video that was posted on Mr Nehemiah Adams' Twitter account this morning, and we are in no doubt that it should not have been posted on social media.

"Mr Adams has since apologised for this post stating that he 'didn’t record or narrate the video in question' but that the 'caption he posted was in poor taste'."

"We do understand that this questionable behaviour reflects poorly on both Mr Adams and Guildford City Football Club. As a result the Club will now deal with the matter internally.

"Meanwhile Guildford City Football Club is fully supportive of the police and all emergency services, and is thankful for the sacrifice that officers make every day in order to safeguard the community."

It is not known at this stage whether Mr Adams will retain the captaincy.

Chairman of the Met Police Federation Ken Marsh spoke out after the footage appeared.

"Are we now in a society where, if we think we can't detain somebody, we just let them go? It's just not worth it," he said.

"We're going to come to a point where we're going to start pushing messages out to our colleagues: 'Risk-assess it dynamically and, if you think you can't detain a person, just let them go.'

"We don't come to work to get assaulted, and if we're not going to be backed up in what we're doing then what is the point?"

Payne was charged with assault causing GBH and assault on an emergency services worker for his part in the assault.

He will appear at Wimbledon Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 19 November.

The two officers were taken to a west London hospital. The kung-fu-kicked female sustained head injuries and the male officer suffered cuts. They have both been discharged.

Police are still searching for the two men who evaded arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at Merton via 101, quoting reference CAD 6952/17Nov.