Cleared, policewoman who tasered her own race relations adviser
A POLICEWOMAN who tasered her force’s own race relations advisor in a case of mistaken identity was cleared of misconduct yesterday.
PC Claire Boddie was accused of using ‘unreasonable force’ when she fired on 65-year-old Judah Adunbi.
Dramatic footage from her bodycam shows the moment the stun gun’s barbs hit him in the face before he tumbles to the ground.
The incident, which took place in the Easton area of Bristol, became the centre of a national controversy. Earlier this year PC Boddie was found not guilty of assault following a criminal trial in Salisbury.
Now she has been cleared of misconduct by a disciplinary panel and is free to continue her career in uniform. Mr Adunbi, who was walking his dog, was stopped by PC Boddie and a colleague on January 14 last year because they suspected he was a wanted man known as Royston McCalla. Footage showed Mr Adunbi repeatedly refusing to give his identity as he became abusive and tried to get through a gate near his home.
PC Boddie drew her taser as she told him to ‘calm down’ and used it to target a ‘red dot’ on his body before returning it to the holster. A short time later, she drew the stun gun again and fired it without warning amid angry scenes as she attempted to arrest him.
The misconduct hearing at Avon and Somerset Police headquarters in Portishead was told the officer acted in an ‘unnecessary, unreasonable or disproportionate use of force’. But the panel found she had not breached police regulations. They heard McCalla was known to be violent and to carry weapons, and that the officers believed Mr Adunbi could use his keys against them. PC Boddie – who is now an acting sergeant – told the hearing she believed the suspect was ‘using violence to escape from us’ and took one threat he made to mean he would kill her colleague. George Thomas, presenting the case, said Mr Adunbi was moving away with his hands down when he was fired at. His lawyer Tony Murphy said the race relations advisor now wants to sue the force over his treatment and said the video footage had ‘shocked the world’. PC Boddie’s lawyer Richard Sheppard said she was a ‘calm, trusted and fantastic’ officer. Allan Bell, of Avon and Somerset Police Federation, said: ‘Hopefully everyone will let her get on and do her job now.’