Police officer made 'joke' before they ‘pepper sprayed and Tasered’ amputee, 92, in care home
A police officer 'joked' about using pepper spray after they tasered an amputee in a care home, a court has heard.
PC Stephen Smith, 51, and PC Rachel Comotto, 36, have been accused of using excessive force on Donald Burgess, 92, at a care home in East Sussex in June 2022.
Burgess was sprayed in the face with pepper spray and tasered at Park Beck care home within 83 seconds of officers entering his room, jurors were told at Southwark Crown Court.
It comes after the wheelchair user had been threatening staff with a cutlery knife and telling them he would murder them.
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"Put the knife down mate, or you will be sprayed or tasered. That’s up to you," Smith can allegedly be heard saying in the police footage.
However, prosecutors have argued that, given Burgess' age, excessive force was used after the court heard Smith used a full canister of Pava spray and struck Burgess with a baton, while Comotto used her taser.
Burgess was taken to hospital and died 22 days later at the age of 93 after contracting Covid.
Smith has denied two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, while Comotto denies one count for discharging her taser.
In police body-cam footage following the incident, Comotto allegedly jokes to Smith: “Oh my God, is there any left in your can?”
“Probably not,” he replied.
Smith later referred to the incident as a 'stand off' when asked by another officer if he used the 'smithy special'.
“Even after spraying he clutched on to it (the knife) to the point where I was going to knock it out of his hands,” he said.
“Just a stand-off with him – gave him all the options.”
Comotto is also said to have told a care home manager after the incident: “We don’t like doing that at all, but what can you do?”
On Friday (23 May) force expert Ian Mills told the court: “No tactic is without risk. You have to make that decision very rapidly.
“With the benefit of hindsight, people might say they would have done this or that – but we don’t know.
“He could have turned the knife on himself.
“The officer made a decision to take viable action and use the taser.”
Comotto - who broke down in tears - said to the jurors: “I honestly believed the taser was necessary.
“It was proportionate because other tactics had failed. If I didn’t act, something worse could happen.
“I saw PC Smith raise his baton up and I believed at that point he was going to strike Mr Burgess with his baton.”
“I’m not a trigger-happy officer,” she added. “It’s the first time I’ve fired my taser.”
In a statement given during a police interview and read to the court by prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC, Comotto said: “Our objective was clear – it was to disarm Mr Burgess as quickly and safely as possible.
“I do not believe that my use of the taser was disproportionate. I believe he posed an immediate and significant risk to himself.”
The trial continues.
Anish Vij