What did US police do with drunken British sailors? Taser them!
THESE are the six sailors who had to be Tasered or arrested by police during drunken brawls after Britain’s flagship aircraft carrier arrived in the US.
Among them is Thomas Reffold who had a Taser used on his right thigh to stop him fighting during shore leave from HMS Queen Elizabeth in Florida.
Arrest reports reveal an officer performed a ‘drive stun’ on Reffold, where the stun gun is held against a person and discharged. The 28-year-old, of Gosport, near Portsmouth, is said to have been yelling and attempting to fight in the street just after midnight on Wednesday night.
A second sailor, Ieuen Edwards, 21, was also Tasered after he allegedly punched a person and then resisted arrest. After two and a half weeks at sea, the crew of 1,500 sailors, aircrew and marines from the £3.1billion Queen Elizabeth descended on a resort at Jacksonville Beach last Wednesday night. But heavy drinking led to fighting and disorderly behaviour at local bars.
Police records said officers were forced to arrest a third sailor, Dominic Gregory, 19, after he got into a row with friends about returning to the ship. Three further sailors were arrested after the night out, with Steven Gorley, of Manchester, allegedly refusing to leave a pub. Matthew Cotham, 22, and Jamie Lutas, 28, were also arrested on suspicion of ‘disorderly intoxication’.
All of the sailors were taken to the county jail but released on the Thursday. A police spokesman said: ‘I think they learnt their lesson.’ The ship’s company is currently on an 11-week deployment.