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Posted on 05/22/2025 11:55:07 AM PDT by RandFan
A 93-year-old disabled man was sprayed in the face with synthetic pepper spray before being shot by a Taser and hit with a baton by police officers, a court has heard.
Donald Burgess was allegedly assaulted by PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto after officers responded to a call at his care home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 21 June 2022.
He was taken to hospital after the incident and later contracted Covid. He died 22 days later.
Staff called police after Burgess, who had one leg, was seen poking a care worker in the stomach with a cutlery knife after flicking food at her. Managers wheeled him back to his room and tried for half an hour to calm him before calling 999.
The officers were dispatched under a grade 1 call, meaning it was treated as the highest level of emergency.
Prosecutors claim the officers used “unjustified and unlawful” force within seconds of entering the pensioner’s room.
Southwark crown court was told on Monday that 1 minute and 23 seconds elapsed between the officers arriving and Burgess being shot with the Taser.
Smith, 51, denies two counts of assault by using Pava spray and a baton, and Comotto denies one charge of assault by discharging her Taser.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
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Maced, shot with a taser, and then hit with a baton.
He was obstinate
He was a tough old bastard. Getting hit with pepper spray, zapped with a taser and then hit with a baton?
Tough.
Don’t issue guns to those bobbies.
He should have obeyed lawful orders.
/sarc or no sarc. You decide.
Suicide by cop.
Not necessarily nor implicitly expressing sympathy for it.
Saying that’s what it was. That old man was ready to go.
They could have subdued him with a blanket. Each grab one side a wrap it around him.
I think you’re onto something
It was a mostly peaceful police brutality over reach.
The old man was in a wheelchair. But he refused to drop the knife. And he was a threat - should he have suddenly lunged out of the chair, he easily could have stabbed one of the cops.
This is not the easiest of calls. But I’d say the cops acted within reason … except they were too damn close when they were talking to the guy.
They were in fear of their lives!
(Is that sarcasm or is it serious? Only my hairdresser knows for sure.)
Yeah, I don’t know. Seems like like they could’ve thrown a blanket over his head and hand and wrestled the knife out of his hand or something. I don’t know.
Nah. If that was the case, he wouldn’t have fought them. Obviously mentally disturbed; that condition can make someone stronger than usual, but they used overkill. They belong in prison.
I think he wanted it like OKSooner says .
Really strange incident
And again, they’ve put the officers on trial. I think that’s going to far
Feral people are in all ranks of life and it’s spreading.
I have actually had to take a knife from a nursing home resident who was trying to harm themselves and others. I just distracted her attention and grabbed her wrist. No one got hurt and hopefully she got the help she needed.
Cops failed to use brains. EASY to use weapons.
How did this start? Was he crabby and stabby 24/7, or did something light his fuse? Was he “demanding” strawberry ice cream for dessert, when everyone knows strawberry is only served on Tuesdays, after Bingo? Article says staff tried to deescalate for at least 30 minutes. Some people will get mad and stay mad for several hours at a time.
Sad that he could not have been temporarily confined to a certain Cooling Down room, with all but just one staff backing off, reducing all interaction. One staff stays to observe he doesn’t self injure. There should not be the image of 7 young staff “against” this one old man. He will feel backed into a corner.
As a Mental Health Counselor, I have experienced somewhat similar episodes, but never with any one quite that old and potentially fragile in health.
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