A PROBE has been launched after a police officer used "brute force" when he struck a young black mother-of-one while arresting her.

Pc Anthony Mulhall of South Yorkshire Police was removed from front-line duties after it emerged he hit Toni Comer in order to subdue her so she could be handcuffed.

The incident, captured on CCTV, occurred outside the Niche nightclub in Sheffield last July and Ms Comer is pursuing a civil action against the force, as reported in last night's Evening Times.

Nicholas Long, of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, said yesterday: "I have seen the CCTV footage and decided it is in the public interest for a wholly independent investigation to be conducted."

In a statement made after the incident Pc Mulhall said he hit her "as hard as I was physically able".

Ms Comer, 20, said she was shocked by the footage. "I was very shocked and very upset that they would do this to somebody. I didn't think it was possible," she said.

She said she had been drinking and had no memory of the incident which occurred around 2am.

She is epileptic and believes her movements may have been caused by a fit.

Ms Comer said she told police she was epileptic when she arrived at the station but nobody came to check on her.

She confirmed she had one previous conviction as a teenager, which she she said was caused by "growing up too quickly".

She added there was probably a racial element to the incident.

Meredydd Hughes, the force's chief constable, said he was "horrified" when he saw the footage but added the full video showed there was "more to this case than meets the eye".

Mr Hughes said the officer was removed from public contact duties for his own protection and to restore public confidence.

He said: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight it's the amount of fight in the dog."

Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei, of the National Black Police Association, said while the video looked "appalling", it was acceptable to use force to stop the person being arrested self harming or harming someone else.

But Shami Chakrabarti, of human rights group Liberty, said: "These images turn the stomach and raise serious questions about police misconduct."

Police were called when Ms Comer vandalised a car after being thrown out of the club. She pleaded guilty on Wednesday to criminal damage and was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 compensation.