Police officers Pc Stephen Smith and Pc Rachel Comotto are on trial for allegedly assaulting 92-year-old Donald Burgess at Park Beck care home. Evidence, including body camera footage, shows Smith deployed Pava spray and used a baton on Burgess shortly after his tasering. Jurors heard Smith and Comotto joking about the incident, with disturbing implications of excessive force. Burgess, a wheelchair user and amputee, expressed distress during the incident. The officers face allegations of using unnecessary force in a vulnerable situation, prompting serious scrutiny of their actions.
In one clip, Comotto is seen laughing and asking Smith: Oh my God, is there any left in your can? Smith replies: Probably not.
Smith described the incident as a stand-off, saying, 'Even after spraying he clutched onto it (the knife) to the point where I was going to knock it out of his hands.'
Mr. Burgess, visibly distressed, told the officers: 'I'm dying.' He is then handcuffed in his wheelchair and taken outside.
Comotto, speaking to care home manager Steve Cooper shortly after the incident, says: 'We don't like doing that at all.'
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