UNION bosses have defended a police officer after video footage emerged appearing to show him hitting a man who was slumped in a doorway.

Sussex Police Federation secretary Mark White said that many had been quick to condemn the officer following the incident recorded in Newhaven town centre on Friday night without knowing the full facts.

Mr White said he had assured the officer involved in the incident, now being investigated by Sussex Police's professional standards department, that he had the federation's "full support".

The woman who filmed the video footage showing the officer subduing a man outside Poundstretcher in Newhaven at 6.30pm on Friday said the officer showed "awful brutality".

But Mr White said: "A large number of people, especially on social media, have been quick to condemn the officer's actions without knowing the full facts, without knowing the circumstances of the arrest or without knowing the events which led up to the officer having to restrain the male.

"When police officers are attacked, it seems to come as a shock to some people that we are allowed to use force to protect both ourselves and the public.

"There are varying degrees of approved and permissible force which can be used by officers and some of these do involve the use of a fist if the circumstances require.

"In this incident, the officer was dealing with a violent man having been called to the scene to back up two PCSOs.

"The officer was then attacked and sought to defend himself and arrest the male using Home Office approved techniques."