A police constable has been sacked after a disciplinary panel found he Tasered a 'suicidal' man four times even though he had been handcuffed.
PC Phillip Smith discharged his stun gun a total of six times at the man following a 999 call in Dukinfield. Today (Wednesday) a police disciplinary panel ruled that that although the first two discharges were appropriate, the last four were fired in temper and were 'not justified'.
PC Smith, a 'response' cop based in Tameside, deployed the weapon when he was scrambled following a 999 call over reports of a concern for the welfare of a 'suicidal' man at his home in Dukinfield in June 2018.
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Police body-cam footage played at the hearing showed the officer at the top of the stairs shouting to the man through a closed bedroom door. The cop is heard saying over the radio that the man had 'barricaded' himself into the bedroom but moments later PC Smith opened the door with the handle and fired his stun gun for the first time at 9.35am, and then a second time three seconds later.
The footage showed the shock of the gun sending the man flying over a double bed and onto the floor on the other side of the room. He is heard screaming in agony.
The panel found these two discharges were 'justified' as the information PC Smith had at that time was that the man was a risk to himself and the visiting police as he was said to be 'mental unstable' and may have been armed with a bottle. The footage then showed another PC who jumped over the bed to handcuff the man, with his hands bound across his front.
"The risk that he posed was greatly reduced and PC Smith should have re-assessed the situation but he failed to do so," said chair of the disciplinary panel Paul Forster.
PC Smith fired his Taser at the man, by now handcuffed and being escorted by two other cops out of the house, a third time at the bottom of the stairs at 9.37am. The officer failed to give a warning and follow his training, and the discharge was 'not justified', said Mr Forster.
By then the PC had 'lost his temper' and his assertion at the time that he was acting under the Mental Health Act 'had no legal justification', said Mr Forster. When the man collapsed into the porch, PS Smith fired his stun gun a fourth time after the man had called him a 'd*** head'.
"He was under control and posed no threat to himself or anybody else," said Mr Forster, who added it was a 'gratuitous act with the intention of causing pain and distress'.
The man was led onto the lawn outside his home where PC Smith fired his stun gun a fifth time at 9.39am even though the man was surrounded by cops and still handcuffed. As the prone man himself pushed his upper body up from the grass, PC Smith fired the stun gun at him for a sixth time a few seconds later.
It was a 'further gratuitous act by the officer with no justification', said Mr Forster, who added that the PC had 'abused his power as a police officer'. The chairman said members of the public 'would be rightly shocked' and that his actions had 'damaged the reputation' of GMP.
Mr Forster said the disciplinary panel rejected PC Smith's claim his actions amounted only to misconduct rather than gross misconduct, and they found him guilty of gross misconduct.
He concluded: "We have concluded in the circumstances of this case the appropriate outcome is dismissal without notice."
The former PC wept as he left the hearing room.
In 2019, PC Smith was handed an 18-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 compensation to his victim after he admitted a single charge of common assault over the same incident. The prosecution was mounted on the basis that three of the six discharges had been unlawful.
The disciplinary hearing was told the original 999 call was for a report of a concern for the welfare of the man, who at that time was thought to be in the garage of his home before moving to his bedroom. The officer was told that the man was a 'big man' who had been drinking alcohol and could be armed with a bottle, the hearing was told.
He spoke to the man through the closed door of the bedroom before opening the door with the handle and then firing his Taser stun gun twice, the disciplinary hearing was told.
The officer, who went on to work in GMP's Tactical Aid Unit after the incident, admitted misconduct but denied gross misconduct.
When the hearing began on Monday, Charles Apthorp, a barrister representing Greater Manchester's Chief Constable, told the disciplinary hearing PC Smith and other officers weren't responding to reports of a crime but to reports that a man was 'suicidal'.
The barrister said the officer had fired the Taser stun gun six times, twice in the man's bedroom and then four more times after he had been handcuffed in the porch of his home and then on the lawn in front of the property in Dukinfield, Tameside.
A series of clips was shown to the hearing showing footage taken from the body-cams of PC Smith and other colleagues.
The video played at the hearing starts when police were at the top of the stairs at the home, and PC Smith can be heard saying over his radio that the man had 'barricaded himself in the bedroom' even though the door was open.
The officer is heard also saying the man was 'refusing communication' and then telling the unseen man through the door: "We need to speak to you."
PC Smith is then heard telling the man officers would not be leaving the address and that cops would 'end up putting the door in' if he didn't emerge from the bedroom.
When the door is finally opened, the footage shows the officers burst into the bedroom and the man can be heard shouting 'f*** off' as he is Tasered, making him scream in pain and sending him diving head first over a bed and onto the floor.
"You get f***ing fun out of that do you. What have I done wrong?.. It's my house ," the man is heard to say as PC Smith's colleague clambers over the bed to handcuff him.
Later he is heard to say: "You love that f***ing Taser. I've done nothing wrong. What am I getting arrested for... I'm not coming with you."
PS Smith repeatedly shouts at the man to 'stop being aggressive' and 'move' downstairs or he will be Tasered again.
The red dot from the stun gun is seen still on the chest of the young man, dressed in grey jogging bottoms and a grey hoodie, who repeatedly shouts 'stop pointing that thing at me'.
When the man eventually goes downstairs the officer Tasers him twice more, while handcuffed, making him scream in pain again.
The footage then shows the man being forced down onto the lawn outside the property where he is surrounded by officers and PC Smith Tasers him twice more after the man attempts to sit up.
The footage shows the officer repeatedly shout at the man to stay down on the grass. "I'm telling you, one more time and you will be Tasered again," the officer is heard to shout, as colleagues move in and apply leg restrains to the prone man.
Mr Apthorp said that PC Smith had also attempted to use powers under the Mental Health Act which were 'not available to him' as the man was at home and so already in a 'place of safety'.
He said the officer had 'abused his position of trust and the weapon entrusted to him'. He said it was 'disgraceful conduct' which amounted to 'gross misconduct'.
Jason Pitter KC, representing the officer, said other footage provided context for PC Smith's behaviour. He said: "There's a little bit more to the footage than we have seen which includes that there's information provided to police constable Smith in respect of a potential for a threat and aggressive behaviour which would not have been immediately apparent from what's been played in the public forum."
After he was convicted of common assault in 2019, Independent Office for Police Conduct Regional Director Amanda Rowe said: "PC Smith repeatedly tasered a man at a time when he posed no threat to him or his colleagues. While the man was tasered five times (sic), the evidence indicated there was no justification for its use on the last three occasions during which time the man had already been restrained and was handcuffed.
"At that point his use of Taser was gratuitous and amounted to an assault in the eyes of the law. It is clear and the judge acknowledged that PC Smith lost his temper.
"While Taser is undoubtedly a valuable tool for keeping both the public and the police safe, there was no justification for its repeated use. The officer will now also face gross misconduct disciplinary proceedings to be arranged by the force, and which could ultimately result in his dismissal."
