PRINCE: PC DENIES ASSAULT ON SUSPECT DURING ARREST CHASE
A police officer today (Thurs) denied deliberately kicking a suspect in the head during an arrest and said he was only following orders to restrain the man.
PC Edward Prince, 31, was in plain-clothes when he allegedly struck Nyrone Games with his right foot as he lay face down on the ground.
He is also said to have threatened that he would have suffered much worse treatment if the event had not been captured on CCTV, telling him: ‘You would have got a good kicking. You well deserved what you got.’
Mr Games, who was wanted for deportation having being jailed in 2007 on drug related charges, was arrested on November 6, 2009, after a foot chase through the streets of Croydon, south London.
Today Prince denied kicking or threatening the suspect and told Southwark Crown Court he had followed a colleague’s orders stop Mr Games from injuring himself.
He told the jury how he and partner PC Gavin McSweeny heard over the radio that officers from a specialist unit based in Lewisham were involved in a a pursuit nearby and went to assist.
Prince said he first saw Mr Games in an alleyway off Brighton Road and ran after him.
‘He was running down the alleyway towards Brighton Road,’ he said.
‘We shouted “Stop”.
‘He recognised us as police officers and increased his speed, running away from us north towards Croydon and Brighton Road.’
As he ran he saw an officer from Lewisham intercept Mr Games and hit him round the legs with a baton, jurors were told.
Prince said his colleague then grabbed hold of the suspect’s upper body and hauled him to the floor outside an Esso garage in Brighton Road.
When asked by his barrister Elroy Claxton to described what happened next, he said: ‘As I ran around Mr Games Pc McSweeny shouted to me to get his head.
‘My reaction was he is the first one there, he knows what he is talking about, I need to go down and secure the head.
‘[Mr Games] was struggling to get away.
‘It was still a violent struggle.
‘Mr Games was a strong, very well-built, young man, determined to get away from police officers.
‘I put my left hand on his left shoulder and put my weight on him so that he could not try and get up.’
Mr Claxton then asked him: ‘Did you at any stage kick Mr Games?’
Prince replied: ‘No, at no point did I deliberately kick Mr Games.
‘It is a possibility I may have come into contact with Mr Games, but as I say it was not a deliberate act.’
He went on to deny the allegation he had threatened him or provoked him and said that once Mr Games had been restrained he offered him first aid after seeing he had a facial injury.
‘Were you able to [give medical assistance]?’ asked Mr Claxton.
‘No, he told me to f*** off and not touch him,’ said Prince.
The jury had previously heard that Prince had been seen by Pc Tina Basset and Sergeant James Hart, from the Lewisham unit, to kick Mr Games in the face.
Prince said he had neither seen nor spoken to Pc Bassett or Sgt Hart at the scene.
Prosecutor Sam Brown has described Prince’s attack as ‘thoughtless, naked aggression’ at a time when he thought he could conceal his actions.
The court has heard forensic analysis of Prince’s shoes showed small spots of blood on his left shoe and traces of saliva on parts of his right shoe.
Prince, of Crawley, west Sussex, denies causing actual bodily harm.
He joined the Met police nine-and-a-half-years ago and has a clean disciplinary record.
The trial continues.
ENDS
