The 16-year-old girl who bit a police officer on his shoulder during a row over litter was hit and kicked by policemen, a court heard today.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty to a charge of violent disorder.

She was giving evidence at Croydon Crown Court.

The mini riot began in North End when PC Anthony Smith and PC Perry Lathwood asked a teenage girl to pick up a burger wrapping she had thrown on the ground outside Burger King at about 3pm on July 16 last year.

A crowd gathered when the girl’s friend - the accused - allegedly got violent when the policemen tried to take the litterbug aside.

The girl said she bit PC Lathwood because she saw him reaching for his baton on his belt. She claimed both policemen had been hitting her.

She said: “I thought he was about to get the baton so I bit him on the shoulder.

“I was scared and shocked, I got scared when I thought he was going to start hitting me again.

“I just bit him quickly.”

During cross examination Martin Goudie, prosecuting, said the girl lied to the jury because PC Lathwood was carrying an asp, a collapsible baton, which was so small she would not have been able to identify it on his belt.

He said two PCs were calm and reasonable when they approached the group of girls.

He said she got angry and lost her cool, because the policemen made her and her friends look foolish in front of the public, for littering.

He said she managed to repeatedly escape from the two PCs because she was punching them, which she denied.

The girl said both police officers tried to pull her to the floor by holding back her arms and kicking at her legs.

“I started screaming when they put me on the floor because it was on the side where they hit me, where I was hurting.”

She said she managed to get up and walk away.

She said one of the policemen grabbed her by her throat and pushed her against the phone box.

She pushed him away by his vest because he was “strangling” her.

The court heard PC Lathwood sprayed CS gas at the girl.

She said it burned and hurt her eyes. She was arrested and taken to the police van after the gas was sprayed.

She said she was never told she was being arrested.

The court heard she went to see a doctor the day after the incident who recorded she had bruising and tenderness on her left upper thigh, right knee and the lower part of her mouth was inflamed and her lips were swollen.

PC Smith and PC Lathwood told the court they were attacked and threatened by members of the crowd.

Two men in the crowd Harold Hill, 38, and Wayne Elliston, 34, were also accused of being involved in the mini riot, but they were acquitted by the judge earlier this week.

The trial continues.