Talking about brave Bruce’s dementia ‘will bring hope’ Cop on drug-fuelled night out hit officer
HOLLYWOOD action hero Bruce Willis’s eldest daughter says his family will continue to talk about his dementia to “bring hope” to sufferers.
Actress Rumer Willis, 35, said they have been overwhelmed by support for the Moonlighting and Die Hard star, 69.
And she added: “My dad is so beloved – that’s been so evident. He’s doing good.”
She vowed that his “blended” family home care team – which includes her two sisters Scout and Tallulah, their mother Demi Moore and Bruce’s wife, Emma Heming – will not stay silent about his brave battle.
“In sharing our experience, if that can have an effect and bring any sort of hope or comfort to someone else, that to me is everything,” she said.
Rumer, whose movie My Divorce Party is now streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV, said her daughter Louetta, 13 months, has already formed a special bond with “Grandpa Bruce”.
Louetta, Rumer’s first child with musician partner Derek Richard Thomas, is also Bruce’s first grandchild and they “love to see each other”, as revealed in a string of photos on Instagram.
The family announced in 2022 that Bruce had been diagnosed with aphasia, and then last year they revealed the disease had progressed to frontotemporal dementia.
Frontotemporal dementia is a rare condition that usually shows up earlier than other forms of dementia. Bruce’s wife Emma, 45, is set to publish a book about her experience as a carer to her husband later this year.
A POLICE officer who punched a sergeant trying to arrest him after a drug-fuelled night out has lost his job and been given a community sentence.
Oliver Birch was arrested in a hotel room that contained wraps of cocaine and a “large amount of cash”.
Birch, 44, from Gravesend, Kent, hired a Lamborghini on March 8 last year and drove it to Brighton, East Sussex, for a night out.
The PC on the Met’s Specialist Crime Command, which investigates organised crime gangs, met a group of students, identified himself as a police officer and took cocaine in their presence.
A Sussex Police spokesman said: “The group left the venue but Birch drove to their address and tried to convince them to join him for a drive.”
Birch also invited some of them back to his hotel, giving them the room number, but they declined.
The spokesman added: “When leaving, Birch thought that this group took the keys to the Lamborghini so he smashed a window of their property with a baton.” He fled when the police were called, but was traced to the hotel room on the sea front.
The spokesman added: “A Sussex Police officer attended to attempt to arrest him but [Birch] resisted and violently assaulted the officer, causing injuries requiring hospital treatment.”
An official report on the incident, seen by the Sunday Express, said Police Sergeant
Seekings entered Birch’s room and the PC pulled away as an arrest was being made.
It added: “PS Seekings drew his taser and red dotted the suspect [who] was instructed to get on his knees.”
As Sgt Seekings tried to handcuff Birch, he repeatedly punched then stamped on him before hurling items at the injured officer, who was able to deploy his taser as back-up arrived. A search of the room found lines of cocaine, a safe containing wraps and a large amount of cash.
A second safe contained a phone, sim cards and Birch’s passport. An extendable baton was found in his pocket.
The hired supercar contained a rucksack holding a Met Police laptop and an open “class A” force evidence bag.
The Met held a misconduct hearing in private last November before dismissing him from the force.
At Lewes Crown Court, Birch pleaded guilty to assault causing ABH, criminal damage, possession of a class A drug and possession of an offensive weapon. A drugdriving charge was ordered to lie on file.
At Brighton Crown Court on March 22, Birch was given a two-year community order to include rehabilitation activity and 150 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £1,000 to the injured officer.
Sussex Police did not publish details of the case at the time.
In a statement, Detective Sergeant Charles Lawrence said: “Offenders such as Birch have no place in policing.”
‘If it can bring comfort, that to me is everything’ ‘Repeatedly punched and stamped on him’