Two 14-year-old girls have been left “traumatised” after police tasered one, and reportedly held down another, during an altercation in Harold Hill.

Romford Recorder: The Masefield Off Licence, in Masefield Crescent, Harold Hill, where the disturbance happened.The Masefield Off Licence, in Masefield Crescent, Harold Hill, where the disturbance happened. (Image: Archant)

Gracie Williams and Cassie Whittaker had just met outside the shops in Masefield Crescent last week, to go see a film when officers rushed over.

They had been called to deal with a drunk woman swearing at customers in the Masefield Off Licence, who the owner estimated was “aged 30 or 40”.

By the time the police arrived, at 8pm on October 12, only Gracie and Cassie were outside on the street, and officers “came over heavy”, according to the girls.

Angry at being accused of something, the teens got into an argument, and in the ensuing altercation the police tasered Gracie. She was left with marks on her chest and breast.

A bystander said: “One girl was being restrained and the other girl was tasered, I saw it with my own eyes.”

“They were 14, of course they weren’t drunk,” Cassie’s dad John, 50, of Chaucer Road, explained.

“If the police came over to you and accused you, you would get angry.”

The Met has said: “The female officer was pulled to the ground by the suspect and assaulted.

“The male officer went to his colleague’s assistance and, while assisting, a second suspect attempted to assault him. The male officer then discharged his taser at this second suspect.”

The pair were arrested on suspicion of assault on police, actual bodily harm and being drunk and disorderly and spent a night in the cells.

Gracie’s mum Diane, 51, of Lauceston Close, said they weren’t able to see a solicitor for hours, and eventually the teens were released “under investigation” at 11am the next day.

“We feel totally let down, we have completely lost faith in the police,” Diane said.

“They have been totally brutal towards the girls.”

Diane and John claim the shop owner actually told the police that the teenagers were not the ones causing the disturbance.

“He knows them,” John added.

“Cass had spent all day cleaning the house, so I said she could go to the movies and this happens.”

The Met did not respond to requests for comment on the age of the suspects, saying this was “part of the investigation”.

Scotland Yard also declined to comment on whether any protocol had to be followed before tasering a child.