Shear lunacy
Cuffed and threatened with Taser by police... for pruning brambles
TRIMMING back brambles to keep the village tidy, he seems the personification of community spirit. But Jonathan dalton was stopped in his tracks by police – who handcuffed him and threatened him with a Taser.
Mr dalton was walking home after clearing foliage from a footbridge in Abberton, Essex, when police arrived, pointed a Taser at him and told him to drop his ‘weapon’ – a pair of old garden shears.
Two female officers then turned up in a second patrol car. He was cuffed and searched when he questioned why he was being stopped.
The trio finally accepted Mr dalton’s explanation – that he had been tidying up the area – but refused to let him walk home with the antique shears, which belonged to his father.
They instead offered him a lift to his home on Mersea island, around two miles away. Mr dalton – who has never been in trouble with police before – yesterday said he had writ ten a ‘good-natured stinker of a letter’ to Essex police chief constable Ben- Julian Harrington to complain.
Mr dalton said: ‘ Can a man no longer walk the Queen’s highway carrying his tools? The old farm labourers used to carry their scythes over their shoulders. Would that be allowed any more?’
The 63-year- old former railway worker, who took early retirement, complained he had been left ‘shaken up and frightened’ by his ordeal on October 2.
it began after police were alerted by members of the public who said they had seen a man carrying a ‘small sword and a knife’.
Mr dalton said: ‘i was walking towards home and heard a siren wailing and a police car pulled up.’
‘The officer got out and said “Put the weapon down”, so i told him they were a pair of garden shears. He then threatened to Taser me and then handcuffed me, before searching me and frisking me. i said to him “i look forward to your apology” and he turned round and said “You won’t get an apology from us”.’
Mr dalton, who lives alone, added: ‘it was an appalling and inept decision by the officer. He should have realised as soon as he saw the shears that it was nothing to worry about.
‘After making a faux pas he should have just apologised and let me go on my way. i have nothing against the police but this was just silly.’
Explaining why he pruned the brambles, he said: ‘i noticed they were blocking the way and you could only squeeze past them and would get scratched. i thought it would be useful for me and also for other people to clear them.
‘it took me ten minutes, whereas if the council had done it, it might have cost the rate-payers a lot more money by the time they’d brought contractors in.’
Essex Police – who have come under fire for taking officers off the streets and other cost-cutting measures – have not apologised for the way they handled the incident.
‘Appalling and inept’