Cop who tasered 92-year-old pensioner in care home says she treated him with ‘utmost respect’
A police officer who tasered a 92-year-old amputee has insisted he treated the pensioner with ‘utmost respect’.
Police were called to the Park Beck Residential Care Home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, after Donald Burgess prodded a worker in the stomach with a butter knife.
PC Rachel Comotto, 35, allegedly assaulted Mr Burgess with her Taser while her Sussex colleague PC Stephen Smith, 51, struck him with his baton and used his Pava spray.
Mr Burgess, was hospitalised after the incident on 21 June 2022 and died 22 days later after contracting Covid-19.
St Leonard’s specializes in caring for people with dementia, but Mr Burgess did not himself suffer from the disease.
At Southwark Crown Court today, jurors heard a list of facts agreed between the prosecution and defence relating to the incident – including post-interview statements written by both officers.
In her statement – relayed by Mr Jarvis – Comotto said joining the police in October 2014 was the ‘realisation of a life-long dream come true.’
She wrote about receiving awards, commendations and national recognition during her tenure working for the Sussex police.
Comotto denied failing to treat Mr Burgess with tolerance, respect and courtesy.
‘When he asked how many more knives there were, he demonstrated a clear, real-time awareness of the situation,’ she stated.
‘This made his continual refusal to drop the knife all the more concerning for me.’
She added: ‘I treated Mr Burgess with the utmost respect, even though he tried to stab PC Smith earlier that did not negatively affect my treatment of Mr Burgess.’
The PC further denied using ‘unreasonable and disproportionate force when using the taser against Mr Burgess.
‘I do not believe in conscience that my use of the taser was disproportionate, excessive or unreasonable – that is my honestly held belief.
‘He had a knife in his right hand in a particularly strong grip which ultimately took the combined efforts of two police officers to remove from his grip.
‘The blade was serrated several inches long.’
She said Mr Burgess refused to ‘relinquish the position of the knife’ which meant ‘using tactical options to disarm him from a distance.’
‘He indicated he would use the knife violently against anyone who stepped into his fighting arc.’
PC Comotto said it was the first time she had discharged her taser in four and a half years, despite being specially trained to use it.
‘It is my honestly held belief if Mr Burgess was not disarmed expediently he would have used the knife to harm himself significantly, causing life-threatening or life-changing injuries – a possibility we could not countenance for’, her statement said.
Jurors then heard PC Smith’s written statement relayed to them by the prosecutor.
He wrote that he was ‘not aware that Mr Burgess was disabled, was a single amputee and in a wheelchair.’
‘I was not aware of these vulnerabilities at the time when I first encountered him, therefore they did not impact my thought process when considering the most appropriate action.
‘At that time I was totally focused on the knife in his right hand.’
An agreed fact stated that Mr Burgess was diagnosed at hospital with a ‘catheter associated urinary tract infection and delirium’ following the incident.
A post-mortem examination revealed an area of ‘deep’ bruising over the ‘top of the wright wrist joint’ but ‘no fracture to the bone’.
The forensic pathologist observed that ‘an ‘injury was noted internally to the right wrist which would be in keeping with a strike from the baton.’
PC Comotto denies one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm with her Taser while PC Smith denies two counts of ABH using a Pava spray and baton.
The trial continues.
