A police officer faces trail accused of injuring a toddler during a raid.
Liverpool Magistrates Court heard that a two-year-old girl was injured when GMP burst into her home after a complaint about her dad. The girl's mum had called police to report her ex-partner wouldn't leave the home.
Police constable Paul Cleasby arrived and is accused of kicking a door into the child's face. The father also claims his daughter was punched by the officer as he held her. The officer denies the allegations.
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The MEN reports the child's father, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, is said to have asked PC Cleasby to remove his foot from the threshold so he could close the door until his former partner came downstairs. He claims the door was then "kicked" and it hit his child "straight in the face".
The 23-year-old also claimed that during the incident he was punched in the face by the officer and his daughter was also punched while he was holding her in his left arm. PC Cleasby, 34, of Windermere Road, Middleton, denies assaulting the man by beating on November 18 last year and assaulting the child by beating.
Questioned by Simon Green, prosecuting, the dad said his reaction to the door being kicked in was to call the officer a "d***head." He then asked: "Why you kicking the door? You knew my kid was behind the door, she was calling me at the time."
He continued: "The next thing I knew he was already inside my house and started punching me and my missus came downstairs and I asked to record on her telephone." He claimed PC Cleasby told him to put the child down and punched her as well as him, adding: "It was aggressive force. I was getting punched all over the place."
He also claimed that the defendant had his hand around his throat before punching him. He was heard on the footage shouting to the officer 'are you stupid?' and repeatedly asking 'why are you holding my neck?'
PC Cleasby was heard repeatedly telling the man to give his daughter to her mother. The man asked him: "Are you on drugs or something?" He said that the incident, which began in the hallway, moved to the kitchen while he was still holding his daughter.
He told the court: "He and one of his colleagues kept punching me. He punched my face and head and my kid was also punched. I did not react, I was not punching back." He said that he was pepper sprayed and admitted he pushed the officer but only when the officer had pushed him first.
PC Cleasby produced a Taser stun gun in the hallway and he asked his ex-partner to film that. He was heard on the footage asking why he was being punched. The court heard the man was taken outside to the staircase where he was struggling to breathe and passed out, and an ambulance was called to take him to hospital.
He claimed before he passed out he heard an officer say to make sure his ex did not have footage of the incident. He said his lip was bleeding and he was injured on the nose and head. Cross-examined by defending KC, Nicholas De La Poer, the man denied having a problem controlling his anger.
Asked if he had a problem with the police he replied: "I am scared of the police, where I come from the police kill people….my friend got shot for doing nothing." Mr De La Poer asked him if he punched a member of the public and kicked them on the ground in July 2018, which he denied.
Asked if he was convicted in January 2019 as a result of that incident, he refused to answer and made the same reply about an incident where he was said to have refused to give his details to a PCSO following an allegation of assault. Body cam footage of that incident was also played to the court.
Referring to his allegations against PC Cleasby, Mr De La Poer suggested he was lying and was shouting out false claims for the benefit of his neighbours and his former partner’s recordings and to paint himself as a victim. The man firmly denied those claims.
Mr De La Poer referenced the death of George Floyd in America, six months before the encounter, as a potential explanation for his remarks. The man denied this and said that the officer had his hand around his neck, not a foot on his neck.
It was put to him that PC Cleasby had his open palm below his neck on his chest area rather than around his throat, which he disputed. The alleged victim’s former partner told the court that the front door had been forcibly opened, hitting her daughter on the forehead. She said she did not see this but heard her ex saying it had happened.
The woman, who also cannot be named, said her ex was shouting out why they had hit his daughter with the door and picked her up. She said: "That is when it all started. It kicked off in a matter of seconds."
The woman said she was told he was under arrest, though she was not told why, and for her to take her daughter away from him. She said the officers were punching him while he was holding their daughter and one of them punched the child in the face. She said the tot suffered a lump on her forehead and a bruise to her arm.
Asked if she had been gesturing to her former partner to calm down during the incident, she said that she had been trying to get everyone to calm down.
The trial, expected to last three days, continues.
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