Police Not Guilty of assault of elderly care home resident

[Nanny0gg]

The police that tasered the 92 year-old amputee in the nursing home have been found not guilty of assault!

What on earth? What does constitute assault then?

I'm appalled by this judgement

Well he had to go to hospital after where he caught covid and died, so it was a death sentence for him really.

Well done for leaving all the salient points of the story.

He should have dropped the knife. They told him repeatedly to drop it and he refused. No one to blame but himself.

How's this:
Police were called to the Park Beck care home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, after Donald Burgess prodded a worker in the stomach with a butter knife.
The court heard that within 83 seconds of entering his room, PC Stephen Smith, 51, had used his Pava spray — an irritant similar to pepper spray — and tried to knock the knife from Burgess’s hand with his baton, before PC Rachel Comotto, 36, shocked Burgess with her Taser.

I thought he was a dementia patient?

He suffered from dementia. Apparently he had a UTI so he was further confused.
They didn't try reasoning, they went in and shouted at a confused old man.

This.
staff felt threatened enough to call Police . He was threatening them and would have stabbed them if they hadn’t got away.

He was a bloody 92 year old amputee with dementia!
Not a 22 year-old body building thug!

One step back would have been far enough away!

It's the police officers that come across as thugs .. unintelligent thugs at that!

I see one of the officers is arguing that he had not noticed he was dealing with an amputee in a wheelchair

Funny how taking literally no time to assess the situation results in missing obvious things.

Curious to know what the other PC said on social media because I understand there are misconduct allegations coming up there

Generally, I cannot understand how the jury arrived at not guilty.

92-year-old amputee in wheelchair in his own room with a butter knife. I mean the mind boggles how anyone could handle it the way these two chose to handle it.

"We also decided that both officers should face a gross misconduct hearing for potential breaches of the police standards of professional behaviour relating to use of force, and authority, respect and courtesy, with PC Comotto facing a further misconduct allegation relating to comments she later made on social media referring to the incident. Now that criminal proceedings have concluded, we will liaise with the force around the next steps."

Source: IOPC

The jury found them not guilty. I don't know much about the IOPC, but the standard of proof might be lower. They still might lose their jobs or receive a reprimand. So, there is still scope for justice of sorts.

I was also concerned that they claimed they hadn't seen he was in a wheelchair, a quick assessment of someone sitting at the other side of the room with a (no doubt adapted) butter knife upon entering a room would allow for a mere second or two to notice the wheelchair. Im also curious about the social media comments, the content of which doesnt seem to have been reported anywhere.

From what I could see, he was no threat to them or anyone else!
They were with him for less than 2 mins before it all got out of hand, poor guy had a uti so would have been more confused than normal
So sad

Mr Burgess was in a dementia care home but he didn't have dementia. The staff suspected he had a UTI but for some reason he hadn't received treatment for it. Everyone knows that UTI's in old people can make them confused and irrational. He was a wheelchair bound amputee, 92 years old and suffered from a range of other health complications. He took a small butter knife back to his room from breakfast and verbally threatened a member of staff with it. The manager called the Police but did not tell them that Mr Burgess was 92 years old, frail and immobile. Within minutes of arrival at the care home and despite seeing that he was wheelchair bound and elderly, the police had discharged a full can of pepper spray into Mr Burgess' face. This isn't standard practice and would normally be reserved for the most violent and dangerous of criminals. They then gave him a good beating several times with a baton (even though he was now almost unconscious from the pepper spray) and finally they tasered him. He died in hospital two weeks later. Not sure how anyone can defend their actions unless you're used to American style law enforcement.

I agree with way the police dealt with this - right decision

Have you watched the footage?

No - they didn’t ‘get away’, they wheeled him back to his room.

The wheels of the wheelchair are immediately visible in the bodycam footage. How did the officers miss it?

I am fully aware that elderly people in care homea aren't necessarily gentle sweethearts, but he wasn't going anywhere. Just stay out of reach.

Some articles include images of the knife, and it is literally an adapted butter knife. No sharp point to it whatsoever.

To be faced with a sick amputee in his 90s armed with an entire butter knife must have been terrifying and left those poor officers in imminent fear for their lives to justify that level of response.

Or they're just poorly-trained, inadequately supervised, lazy thugs. Now I wonder which option it could be?

You think they were justified in emptying a full can of pepper spray at close range into his face, beating him repeatedly with a baton (even though he was slumped and prone from the pepper spray) and then finally tasering him. He was a 92 year old amputee incapable of moving. May I ask why you think was a good thing?

And have YOU watched the footage?

Who had stabbed a member of staff.

I think the force used was disproportionate. They probably could have left him alone and he would have fallen asleep.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing however. The cops weren't really to know how strong he was and how much of a threat he posed.

It doesn't feel like there are any winners here. Just a very sad event all round.

With a butter knife? How?