‘Public would be appalled’ – ban for arrest-assault PC
AN EXPERIENCED police officer threw a detainee to the ground, sprayed him in the eyes from close range, and called him a “useless c**t”, a misconduct hearing was told.
Dyfed-Powys Police Chief Constable Mark Collins said “the public would be appalled” at how PC Jonathan Reynolds treated a detainee during the incident on May 27 last year.
Reynolds, who has been convicted of two counts of assault in connection with the incident and has since left his job, has been barred from working in law enforcement for at least five years for using an “excessive amount of force” during an arrest.
A misconduct hearing at police headquarters in Carmarthen yesterday was told Reynolds had an “exemplary” record prior to the incident.
Reynolds used “unnecessary force” during the arrest of Jamie Cruse outside the Castle Vaults pub in Newtown, Powys, and discharged a PAVA incapacitant spray at close range.
Stephen Morley, representing Dyfed-Powys Police, said: “The facts are not in dispute. Mr Cruse had been ejected from the premises and was arrested by PC Reynolds’ colleague, PC Aimee Dix, for being drunk and disorderly.
“Whilst Mr Cruse was in handcuffs and being taken to the police car, PC Reynolds sprayed his PAVA spray into Mr Cruse’s face from very close range.”
Mr Morley added that Mr Cruse, who was later convicted for being drunk and disorderly, was “generally unpleasant” to Reynolds and called him a “bald c**t” before the officer sprayed him.
“Thereafter PC Reynolds failed to give Mr Cruse any aftercare and appears to have been generally ‘rough’ with him, using unnecessary force to push him around as he was placed into and out of the police vehicle and taken to the custody suite,” Mr Morley added.
Much of the incident was caught on PC Dix’s bodycam and by CCTV cameras at Newtown Police Station where Reynolds was filmed pushing the handcuffed Mr Cruse to the floor before “pushing him into the corner of a wall, saying ‘you are a cheeky f **** r’”.
Reynolds, from Newtown, admitted his language was unprofessional and that he “should not have risen” to Mr Cruse’s insults when he said Dyfed-Powys Police officers were “useless c***s”, to which Reynolds responded: “You’re the useless c**t.”
Mr Cruse suffered bruising to his wrists during the incident.
During an interview on September 16, 2019, Reynolds said he knew Mr Cruse to be volatile, describing him as a “lovely lad” when sober and a “nightmare” when drunk.
He said when Mr Cruse called him a “bald c**t” he feared being assaulted and decided to use his PAVA spray – similar to pepper spary – at a distance of six to eight inches from Mr Cruse’s face.
In his closing statement Chief Constable Collins said: “You have been a good and hardworking police officer. However, throwing [Mr Cruse] to the ground in the way seen on the CCTV could have caused serious injury.
“The public would be appalled at your attacks on Mr Cruse – particularly when there is national and international concern for the actions of the police.
“The matter is so serious that dismissal is appropriate to maintain public confience.”
Reynolds was told he would be added to the barred and advisory list for five years. After five years he will be removed from the publicly available list and could appeal to the College of Policing to reconsider his status of being barred from working in law enforcement.
He will appear at Swansea Magistrates’ Court on Monday, June 22, to be sentenced for two counts of common assault against Mr Cruse.