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BBC News, Southwark Crown Court
BBC News, South East
Family handoutA 92-year-old care house resident in a wheelchair used to be sprayed within the face with artificial pepper spray ahead of being Tasered and hit with a baton through cops, a jury has been informed.
PC Stephen Smith emptied nearly a complete can of pepper spray into Donald Burgess’s face when he refused to drop an merchandise of cutlery very similar to a butter knife, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Mr Burgess, who had one leg, used to be then Tasered through PC Rachel Comotto, police body-worn digital camera pictures proven to jurors seemed to display.
PC Smith, 51, denies two counts of attack through the use of Pava spray and a baton, and PC Comotto denies one rate of attack through discharging her Taser.
Mr Burgess used to be a resident at a house in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, when group of workers known as police on 21 June 2022 when they failed to influence him handy over the knife, which had a specifically tailored take care of.
Paul Jarvis KC, prosecuting, informed jurors the officials made no try to communicate to group of workers, and as a substitute approached Mr Burgess, looking to engage with him.
He mentioned as a substitute of looking to calm the placement down they infected it, the use of power that used to be unjustified and illegal.
Jurors had been informed there used to be no person inside arm’s succeed in of Mr Burgess on the time, and that it will have to were transparent he used to be no longer cell.
“It ought to have been obvious by the fact he had one leg that this was a man who wasn’t going to be mobile,” Mr Jarvis mentioned.
“This was an elderly, vulnerable man who may not have understood what was going on.
“Rather than being met with working out and sympathy, he used to be faced through inflammation and annoyance at the a part of the defendants.”
The following video contains distressing scenes.
Mr Jarvis KC, told the court Mr Burgess was suffering from a urinary tract infection on the day of the incident, a condition that can make a person confused, agitated, or even aggressive.
He told the jury Mr Burgess was asked to hand over the knife after he had used it to flick food and poke a member of staff in the stomach.
Mr Jarvis said managers had spent 30 minutes trying to get him to put the knife down.
Mr Burgess, who suffered from multiple health conditions including diabetes and carotid artery disease, had been a resident at the home since 2018.
He had not been diagnosed with dementia, but the care home specialised in support for people with the condition.
‘Unnecessary and over the top’
The court was told that one minute and 23 seconds elapsed between the officers arriving and Mr Burgess being Tasered.
In the body-worn camera video PC Smith can be heard repeatedly asking Mr Burgess, who was a right leg amputee, to put down the knife.
When he doesn’t move, PC Smith sprays him with Pava, before using his baton and 12 seconds later, Mr Burgess can be seen crying out in pain when PC Comotto uses her Taser gun.
PC Smith then takes the knife from Mr Burgess.
Mr Burgess was taken to hospital after the incident and later contracted Covid. He died 22 days later.
Mr Jarvis told the jury: “I need to make it transparent – those defendants don’t seem to be answerable for his loss of life.
“He was an elderly gentleman who was unwell.”
But he added: “The force used was unnecessary and excessive in the circumstances.
“The defendants assaulted Mr Burgess, inflicting precise physically hurt.”
The trial was adjourned until Tuesday.
Additional reporting through PA Media.
