PC who Tasered 92-year-old tells court she treated him with 'respect'

A police officer who Tasered a disabled 92-year-old care home resident claimed she treated him with the 'utmost respect', a court has heard.

Jurors were shown body-worn video footage of officers in the moments after Donald Burgess, a single-leg amputee and wheelchair user, was restrained at Park Beck care home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex.

PC Stephen Smith, 51, and PC Rachel Comotto, 36, are on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after allegedly using excessive force on Mr Burgess in June 2022.

Smith is charged with two counts of assault, relating to his use of Pava spray and a baton, while Comotto faces one count for discharging her Taser.

Earlier this week, jurors heard how Smith allegedly emptied a full canister of the incapacitant into Mr Burgess's face, struck him with a baton, and how Comotto deployed her Taser - all within 83 seconds of entering his room.