THE story of Firas Albaja will rightly shock and appal.

To be pepper-sprayed in the face for doing nothing more than urging a police officer not to hurt a friend is beyond belief.

It is the sort of thing we may see on the news happening elsewhere in the world, but you don’t expect to see it here in Sussex.

The Independent Police Comp-laints Commission (IPCC) report is rightly damning and lessons have to be taken from this incident.

However, perhaps even more shocking than him being pepper- sprayed is that the two officers who went to arrest him – wrongfully arrest him, that is – decided to take it upon themselves to cancel the ambulance he had called.

Mr Albaja was struggling to breathe and, for a time, could not see. He said he felt like he was having a stroke and was worried what impact the spray might have on his pre-existing medical condition.

Who are they to decide whether he should or should not receive medical treatment? We are entering very dangerous territory for a society when officers start to make those sort of calls.

As the IPCC found, the lack of appropriate aftercare prolonged Mr Albaja’s suffering unnecessarily.

The force has apologised and paid Mr Albaja compensation, but it is not enough for him and it is not enough for society for that to be the end of it.

The IPCC report made a host of recommendations, some of which Sussex Police bosses have agreed to. However, what they refuse to follow is the call for the actions of Joanne Sturgess to be passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Sussex Police rely on a good relationship with those they serve.

Action must be taken and changes made following this incident to ensure that continues.