The police officer cleared of killing Ian Tomlinson at the G20 protests in 2009 has accepted that his actions brought discredit to the force, a disciplinary hearing was told.
Pc Simon Harwood, 45, admitted that his conduct on the day the newspaper seller died, and the way in which it was reported by the media, brought discredit on the Metropolitan Police and this amounted to gross misconduct.
However, his lawyers have refused to accept an allegation that his actions inadvertently caused or contributed to the 47-year-old's death.
Pc Simon Harwood accepts his actions 'discredit' the Met Police
Harwood, 45, hit Mr Tomlinson with his baton and shoved him to the ground during the G20 protests near the Royal Exchange Buildings in the City of London in April 2009.
Mr Tomlinson, who was an alcoholic and had slept rough for a number of years, managed to walk 75 yards before he collapsed and later died from internal bleeding.
Harwood, from Carshalton in Surrey, has already been acquitted of Mr Tomlinson's manslaughter, although an inquest found the father-of-nine was unlawfully killed.
He is now facing police disciplinary proceedings, which are being held by the Met in public for the first time.
Patrick Gibbs QC, for Harwood, told the hearing: "Pc Harwood does indeed accept that the discredit which his actions, and the way in which they have been reported, has brought upon the Metropolitan Police Service amounts to gross misconduct. He has twice offered his resignation to the Commissioner."
He said that, with the benefit of hindsight, Harwood would have used "no force at all" if he had known about the state of Mr Tomlinson's health.
Mr Gibbs said: "If he had known then what he now knows about the circumstances, everybody's movements and Mr Tomlinson's health, he would have used no force, let alone the force that he did use."
The officer, 45, from Carshalton, Surrey, had a controversial disciplinary record before the fateful day when he came across Mr Tomlinson.
A series of allegations were made against him over a 12-year period and he was allowed to retire from the Met on medical grounds in 2001 despite unresolved disciplinary proceedings.
Deborah Glass, deputy chairwoman of the IPCC, said after the court verdict: "The circumstances of Pc Harwood's return to the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) in 2004 raised grave concerns about MPS vetting procedures.
"I have commented in previous cases on the damage to public confidence that can result when police officers are allowed to go before disciplinary matters have been concluded - it is all the more alarming when police officers who have avoided disciplinary proceedings by resigning or retiring are able to come back."