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

^ True. But they really do look/sound out of their depth. Perhaps re-training would have an impact. But, yes, I agree that some people don't have the right aptitude for some types of work.

Exactly the staff and police unnecessarily escalated a non event. An old man with one leg sat in a wheelchair holding a butter knife rambling because he was ill. Honestly I think some people just like to make a drama out of nothing.

I cant help wondering if the jury would have been so quick and whether the verdict would have been the same had it been a child on the business end instead of an elderly man

As long as people kept their distance, he wasn't going to be able hurt anyone apart from himself. The situation needed de-escalation.

He did have one

Times have changed. I worked on a dementia ward in my youth and the patients were lovely with zero violence

This.

They might well still be dismissed from their jobs. That IOPC have recommended they face gross misconducted charges.

He had dementia. I doubt he understood what they were even saying to him.

I bet the officers did "everything by the book" without using one bit of common sense, which is sadly lacking nowadays.

One little old man in a home locally murdered another resident. Maybe just accept the jury heard all the evidence.

The police service routinely employ people with a certain personality type, and this is the outcome. There really needs to be an enquiry into the type of people who are allowed to be police officers and the power they are given.
My brother was a police officer and that man is the angriest man I’ve ever known who has no ability to manage his emotions. The fact he was allowed to be a police officer with multiple drunk and disorderly arrests on his record, then continued to be allowed to be one after a drunk driving incident boggles my mind.

and he’s far from the only one.

Yes the police were probably called because the staff who knew him and we're trained to work with dementia needed help so probably not like the home you worked in.

Someone clearly doesn't understand dementia.

It was a butter knife, they could have walked up and took it or wheeled him in the garden and he’d have probably fallen asleep in the sun within 10 minutes.. He was 92 with one leg!
Are you aware that afterwards they all stood around laughing.: Did you pull a Smilthy (talking about the over use of the pepper spray) They seem to love a little inside joke nick name in the police don’t they, remind you of anyone?!??
How anyone can defend this baffles me, the most gross thing I’ve ever seen.

It was always a standing joke that the police force is made up of the army rejects that nobody could risk giving a gun to.

I think it's shocking that this is not assault. I was thinking maybe people were mistaken and it was actually a steak knife or something, but no The Sun (sorry!) has a clear picture of it along with the video of the incident. No one could really kid themselves that this guy was a threat to anyone. They should have just left him alone till he got bored/fell asleep.

www.thesun.co.uk/news/35067823/butter-knife-cops-taser-amputee/

He was sitting in his wheelchair when they tasered him. You can see on the video from the body armour

Over on the long running Grenfell thead on the News board we have been talking about the fact there is no protection of the public and no accountability.

this case brings that into stark focus and shows that its not just in housing.

Barrenfieldoffucks · Today 17:54
And was an amputee without his wheelchair nearby, why did he need to be tasered and hit around the head repeatedly?

He wasn't hit around the HEAD the officer was hitting his arm/hand to try and get him to drop the knife.

However, having said that, I've watched the video, and was absolutely appalled at the speed with which these two officers escalated. You could tell just by looking at the poor man, that he wasn't really even understanding what they were saying to him. There was absolutely no need whatsoever for the pepper spray or taser. Had they gone in with a smile on their face, and said something like 'Hello Mr Burgess, we're police officers, the people from the care home have called us, as they're worried about that knife you're holding, would you mind putting it down please, and then we can have a chat, and you can tell us what the problem is', then he might have relaxed a little, and given a few minutes, handed over the knife with absolutely no need for all the shouting and violence involved. Even someone of my age (mid 60's) might be a bit confused if I were sitting in a room in my wheelchair, and suddenly two police officers were to come charging in, shouting at me, let alone, a man of 92 years old. Absolutely disgusting over reaction. They should be fired!

No and worryingly it’s just getting worse.

Absolutely this.

There was no immediate danger.

I am shocked that they escalated it to this when he was no threat whilst sat down.

He was confused and probably didn’t understand what they were asking.

He did not look like he was going to hurt himself either.

Shouting at him would not have made him drop it.

There was absolutely no need for their actions.

99% of the time I support the police, I actually think they should on occasion be allowed to use more force. They were totally in the wrong here.

And yes, I know people with dementia and how aggressive they can get. Even if he was swinging wildly all they had to do was step back to get out of reach, this should have been their easiest job of the day. As a PP said, go in with tea and a smile or just leave him until he falls asleep.

Edited for typo.

Fucking hell what did i just watch? That old man was no threat to either of those officers, their behaviour is an absolute disgrace.

I honestly can’t believe they were found not guilty and I’ve no faith in the IOPC in doing the right thing either.

DS2 is a nurse, he’s 6ft 5 for context. He isn’t ward based but visits some of the sickest people in the hospital. One day he was called to a very frail, tiny old lady with dementia. When he was talking to her she cracked him straight across the face. The ward based nurses were adamant that he needed to call security. He was having none of it. He knew she was very poorly, very scared and no threat to anyone, and calling security would make it worse.

Common sense needs to prevail in the first instance in these situations. The care home staff were obviously not adequately trained and the police jumped in with both feet and no brain cells. Poor man. It’s just awful.

Never underestimate the strength of people with dementia. All of a sudden they’re not frail.