Accused cleared over ‘spit assault’ on police
AN ARRESTED man who spat at two police officers said he acted in selfdefence after being repeatedly punched and dragged across the floor.
James Dollive was in custody at Huddersfield Police Station following his arrest for another matter.
He stood trial for assaulting two officers during his detention, but magistrates cleared him after they heard how this was a reaction to how they dealt with him.
The 30-year-old said he has made a formal complaint to West Yorkshire Police about his treatment.
He had denied two charges of common assault of an emergency worker.
Kirklees magistrates were told that, shortly after 11pm on November 16, Dollive was brought into custody at the Castlegate station.
Joe Hudson, prosecuting, said: “The complainant was the detention officer who authorised the detention.
“Throughout this process, the defendant was very argumentative.
“There was a further detention officer who was asked by the sergeant to escort the defendant to his cell.
“The defendant was seen to walk away from the custody desk, which caused the officer to take hold of his shirt to bring him back round.
“As he was escorted to his cell, he was obstructive and placed his hands against the wall to stop himself from being moved.”
The Huddersfield court was told that Dollive, of Holme Park Court, in Berry Brow, continued to be argumentative and a struggle ensued as the PC started to pull him towards the cell door.
Mr Hudson said: “There was then a melee in which both the officer and the defendant ended up on the floor (and) he restrained the defendant.
“The defendant was brought into the cell and, at some point during the melee, the defendant spat out in the direction of the officer.”
Dollive’s spittle landed on both the officer and his colleague standing next to him.
He denied any wrongdoing, claiming that he acted in self-defence after being punched in the face by one of the officers.
Magistrates were told that the matter Dollive was originally arrested for had not been pursued.
The detention officer accused of assaulting him said in evidence that Dollive was unco-operative, telling him: “I’ll move when I want to move”, causing him to push him towards his cell.
He told magistrates he got into a pushing/pulling situation with Dollive and they ended up on the floor.
The officer said: “There was an awful lot of aggression from Dollive.
“He was attempting to bite my hand and flailing his arms.
“I put my hand on the side of his face. The biggest fear was getting hurt and my colleagues getting hurt.
“It was moving very quickly, he attempted to bite me again.
“We attempted to get him on his chest and that’s when he spat.”
The officer said that Dollive’s spittle hit him in the head and chest.
He added: “It was foamy – enough to be distasteful.”
In cross-examination, the officer confirmed he used the technique of mandibular pressure on Dollive, which involves pressing on the nerve behind the ear to aggravate it.
The officer said Dollive was also placed in a thumb lock.
He disagreed with Dollive’s solicitor Carl Kingsley’s suggestion that he took him to the floor and punched him several times to the head.
Mr Kingsley said to him: “He was pinned to the floor after being punched and dragged across the floor.
“I’m suggesting he spat to get you off him. This defendant showed no aggression whatsoever.”
The officer replied: “That’s not how I felt at the time.”
Magistrates were shown a body map showing the injuries caused to Dollive’s face, allegedly by repeated punching.
The second victim confirmed to magistrates that he didn’t see Dollive acting aggressively at the custody desk, and did not witness anybody striking him.
Dollive said that he has made an official complaint about his treatment.
In evidence, he admitted that he became upset because the officer was “grabbing me and goading me” as he headed towards his cell.
He said: “I felt he had no need to do that. He was in my personal space.
“I backed up into a corner because I felt threatened.
“I said: ‘I can walk on my own.’ He said: ‘Walk then’ and I said: ‘Get out of my face.’
“I had my hands on the wall so he’d stop pushing me. I felt an arm around my neck, drag to the floor and then several punches to the face. I was on my back and he put his knee on the side of my neck, not his hand.
“The only thing I could do was spit to get him away from me, because I was being restrained so badly.”
Dollive admitted that he was drunk at the time, but added he remembered being punched to the face four or five times clearly.
Although he agreed that spitting is disgusting, he added: “Beating up a person in custody is disgusting as well – it’s not in police professionalism at all.”
Magistrates found Dollive not guilty, as they felt it wasn’t proved that his spitting was not in self-defence.