A police officer who kicked and hit a mother as she sat by the hospital bed of her sick child, leaving her with more than 40 injuries, has been cleared of actual bodily harm.
Warren Luke, 38, a Metropolitan police officer, was accused of repeatedly kicking and punching the 41-year-old woman, who, hospital staff had said to him, was refusing to leave. But a jury at Wood Green crown court on Thursday cleared Luke of committing any crime.
The mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was caring for her seven-year-old daughter, who suffers from cerebral palsy, when the incident happened at a London hospital in December 2013.
The court heard how an argument ensued when the mother refused to leave the hospital room at the request of staff and Luke was one of four police officers called to the hospital to resolve the incident.
In a video interview played to the jury, the mother said Luke had told her: “‘You’ve got to leave, you’ve got to leave’. I kept playing with my daughter and then I saw him moving towards me. He was kicking me and kicking me. He had one hand on my head. When I fell on the bed he grabbed my hair and banged my head. I was screaming. I couldn’t defend myself. My ex-husband ran in and shouted, ‘why are you kicking my wife?’”
Luke, who has been a police officer for six years, told the court that the mother’s behaviour had been “escalating” and he felt the child was at risk of injury. He said he had contemplated using a baton or CS gas but decided that that was not an option.
Instead, he told the court, he struck the mother repeatedly on her left bicep and then decided to try a different approach which he described as a “distraction strike” on the left side of the mother’s face, using his booted foot.
Luke told the court: “I did kick out at the left side of her face as trained to do. My footwear was a boot but it’s light.”
When asked how he had caused so many different injuries to the mother he said: “I can’t say exactly where and how her injuries were sustained, I can only say what I did.”
The woman told the Guardian she needed plastic surgery following the incident and has been off work for more than a year recovering from her injuries.
Luke accused the mother of grabbing his groin during the attack, which she denied. He said he had acted to protect the child and was concerned that the mother had grabbed her arm and that the child was in danger of falling off the bed and becoming disconnected from the hospital machines.
When asked in court if he had used full force on a mother refusing to leave the hospital, he said: “I wouldn’t say that I used full force but I do remember hitting harder because it had no effect. I used police tactics with good reason that were absolutely necessary. I didn’t go too far. Whenever a police officer uses force you need to be accountable for it.”
Security staff at the hospital who witnessed the incident told the court they were appalled by it. Two police constables who also attended the incident gave evidence for the prosecution. Laura Riley, one of the officers, wept as she described the scene, and the officer Mary Clark described the incident as “just horrific”.
THIS PIECE OF ANIMAL FILTH DESERVE TO DIE SCREAMING
ReplyDeleteIn cases such as this where the courts will do nothing it is time for the people to step up to the plate. Get the bastard alone without his badge or his gang and beat the living stink out of him, perhaps badly enough to make him think of an alternative career where contact with human beings is not required. Make it hurt.
ReplyDeleteAnd the ex husband did nothing, I promise you a real man would have seen his woman ex or not being beaten and attacked the piece of scum. Had he done this to my wife or woman, I would not stop beating him until he was dead or others stopped me from beating him to death. I am not sure I would stop even knowing he was dead. This is a piece of garbage and should be dealt with accordingly.
ReplyDeleteIs there a competition between the US and Britain to see who has the worst police? Once upon a time police were respected and looked up to in both countries. Now they are deservedly hated and reviled...and close to finding out that there are more of us than them, and we know where they live.
ReplyDeleteVery true ranger. I stated something similar the other day saying that law enforcement needs to make a choice as to their loyalty and they had better choose correctly. Should they make the wrong choice they will find out very quickly that they are severely outnumbered and will be treated as they have treated the ones they have been abusing...with no mercy. It need not be that way but the choice and the consequences that come with it are up to them.
ReplyDeletenow the time to hunt this bastard down and permanently cripple him
ReplyDeleteIn the UK when a decision on justice is required it is done by the
ReplyDeletecommunity- by you and I. This community is better known as a jury. They
hear ALL of the evidence. Remember only 'they' heard ALL the evidence
that you havent. They made their mind up within 4 hours and all 12 members agreed on NOT GUILTY-UNANIMOUS.... It was said in open court that the lady was very
agressive and had already been violent and assaulted a medic- that the
mother injured her kid and that she had threatened to remove the kid
from life saving machinery-that the police service spent hours trying to
persuade her and only physically intervened when the mothers
behaviour escalated and the kid was currently being injured-that the
police officer suffered a multitude of injuries-that the officer, who
had numerous commendations, was offered no assistance from others there
and he ONLY did what was necessary to protect the kid from very serious
injury or death. As a democratic country we must only form views based
on facts.
"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined
nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and unity." -FM
Maybe, if the nurse told the woman who refused to leave, "I'm going to get a psycho-cop in here and he's going to kick you and stomp your face with his boots and leave you needing plastic surgery, if you don't leave now, I mean it, the cop will hurt you bad, and all I have to do is make one phone call."
ReplyDelete