Driver tasered after speeding on Ferry Rd
A MAN who was tasered and thrown to the ground during a traffic stop has claimed he got additional punishment because of the police actions.
Matthew Gale pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court on Thursday to one count of speeding.
A trial was scheduled to take place into charges including obstructing police but those charges were dropped the morning of the hearing.
Instead Gale only faced the speeding charge.
Police prosecutor Senior Constable Dan McShane said Gale was caught speeding at 20km/h above the speed limit on Ferry Rd in Southport mid last year.
Police did not know the exact speed he was going.
Body worn camera footage of the incident obtained by the Bulletin shows police tailing Gale before stopping him.
During the arrest police taser Gale, throw him to the ground and one officer calls him a “dickhead”.
Defence barrister Bernard Reilly, instructed by TWC Lawyers, said Gale faced “a particular degree of extra curial punishment” due to how he was treated by police.
He said Gale had been physically manhandled during the incident and spent several hours in the watchhouse.
The court was told Gale went to a doctor at 2pm the next day who found grazes on his temple, forehead, arms and elbows as well as “visible red lines still observable at 2pm from where the handcuffs had been”.
“He found the whole episode painful and distressing,” Mr Reilly said.
Mr Reilly said Gale worked in the liquor trade and had to put plans to go into distribution on hold until the charges were dealt with.
Magistrate Michelle Dooley fined him $80 and no conviction was recorded.
Outside court Gale’s solicitor Troy Smith said it was “unfortunate” it had taken so long for the charges to be dropped.
“Most importantly Mr Gale can now move on, his name has been cleared, his reputation has been cleared and he can try to put this ordeal behind him,” he said.