Police officer accused of pushing man to ground outside casino cleared
APOLICE officer who was accused of pushing a man to the ground and injuring his leg while trying to arrest him has been cleared at a misconduct hearing.
Yesterday a hearing against South Wales Police officer Andrew Nealon was set to go into its third day, but it was dismissed by a panel after it was heard there was “no evidence” to proceed.
Pc Nealon was on duty in Cardiff city centre on September 21, 2016, when he was alleged to have been involved in the incident.
Complainant Richard Jones and three friends were on a night out during university freshers week and attempted to
gain entry to Rainbow Casino in Mary Ann Street.
Two of the group were refused entry to the casino and staff asked Pc Nealon, of the eastern basic command unit, to assist them in removing them from the entrance.
Case presenter Jonathan Walters said Pc Nealon arrested Mr Jones on suspicion of drunken and disorderly behaviour. While carrying out the arrest it was claimed an offensive comment was made by Mr Jones which made Pc Nealon to push him to the floor.
Mr Jones claims the push caused him to fall over and he sustained an injury to his leg. The claims were denied by Pc Nealon all along who said Jones “came at him” and he held one or two arms out to gain control of him.
Pc Nealon was accused of three breaches of professional misconduct: a breach of authority, respect and courtesy; use of force; and discreditable conduct. But after hearing the evidence on Tuesday from an eyewitness the panel decided to entirely dismiss the case the following day.
Yesterday Mr Walters said there was “no evidence” on which they could find against the officer and the only way forward was to dismiss the proceedings.
The decision came after a witness said the incident was “not worth a police officer’s career over”.
George Jones, a member of Richard Jones’ group who claimed to have seen the incident, told the panel on Tuesday: “Richard provoked him verbally and there was a push or scuffle and it’s not worth a police officer’s career over.”
Mr Walters said yesterday: “Had we had known what the evidence was going to be I would say we would not have been here in the first place.”
Hearing chair Peter Griffiths QC agreed and said: “These proceedings are over and formally dismissed.” Addressing Pc Nealon he added: “You will leave here without a blemish on your police history.”