A Bristol police officer used excessive force against a drunken woman by throwing her to the ground in the early hours of Saturday night in the city centre, a misconduct panel heard.
PC Ashley Tucker, 33, ran up behind the female, Miss A, and performed a move he was not trained to do, and she landed heavily on concrete at The Centre shortly before 2am on April 16, 2023, it was alleged.
Shocked members of the public immediately complained about her treatment, which was similar to a hip throw in martial arts.
The officer told day one of the hearing at force headquarters in Portishead on Monday, February 24, that in hindsight he could have handled the situation better, such as by talking to her, but that he still believed he acted lawfully and with a policing purpose.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was heavily intoxicated on a night out with her family and kicked a council bin at the bus shelter opposite Urban Tiger strip club after shouting aggressively, the hearing was told.
PC Tucker denies breaching the standards of professional behaviour and gross misconduct. Barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, representing the constabulary, said the constable dealt with two men in the early stages of a fight earlier that evening very differently, which amounted to sex discrimination.
He said PC Tucker issued them with a formal notice to leave the area and did not take either to the ground or arrest them. Mr Ley-Morgan said: “PC Tucker came up behind Miss A, grabbed her by the shoulders and took her to the floor.
“A complaint was made at the time by members of the public at what they saw as excessive. That put the officer on notice that people had seen what he did and did not like it.”
He said Miss A was taken to custody by other officers but PC Tucker did not tell them that force had been used, so this was not relayed to the custody sergeant.
Mr Ley-Morgan said: “During the incident, Miss A’s head came into contact with the floor and that certainly should have been relayed.” He said the woman was interviewed and released without charge the following day.
The barrister said: “It was not reasonable to throw her to the ground.” Mr Ley-Morgan said PC Tucker believed she was a threat to him and could assault him.
He said: “There is an obvious difference between the treatment of the young lads and the treatment of Miss A. The officer used completely unnecessary force.”
PC Tucker told the panel that he heard the woman shouting ‘f***ing come on then!’ at someone so was concerned she was ‘looking for a fight’.
“She was squaring up,” the officer said. “She walked into the road, unsteady on her feet, and she kicked the bin. It had some dents and the contents were spilling out.
“I ran towards her because offences were being committed. I whistled loudly to try to get her attention and shouted ‘Stop!’. I perceived there was a risk of damage, harm to others, to herself and to myself and a risk that she would run off. I performed a take-down move and she turned around towards me, so I took hold of her, twisted my body and, in doing so, knocked her off balance.
“The manoeuvre was instinctive. I was attempting to prevent her from running off. She went down very considerably quicker than I anticipated.”
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He said her head did not hit the pavement during the fall and that he still had hold of her to stop her being hurt. PC Tucker arrested her for criminal damage and being drunk and disorderly and handcuffed her.
The officer said: “Her mother came over and was very aggressive and was anti-police, shouting terms like ‘pigs’. “I believe my actions were lawful and for a policing purpose.”
He said that with hindsight he could have handled the situation better but that her gender had nothing to do with how he treated her. PC Tucker denied Mr Ley-Morgan’s claims that he was trying to create a false impression that she was ignoring him and that he changed his story, grossly exaggerated how Miss A was behaving and lied that she was standing in the middle of the road shouting aggressively.
The constable said he believed she was going to be violent towards him, that there could be further damage to property or that she could flee. He denied Mr Ley-Morgan’s claim that he was telling a “pack of lies from start to finish”.
The barrister told him: “All of this is a fabrication and you have made up this story about hearing her shouting ‘f***ing come on, then’ to justify the unjustifiable. You lied about her level of aggressiveness in order to justify you taking her to the ground.”
PC Tucker said:: “It was an error of judgement. On reviewing it, I could have done things better. I still stand by what I did on the day.”
He said that if she did hit her head on the ground, it was when he dragged her. Mr Ley Morgan said: “You threw her down with such force that both her feet left the ground. You then yanked her arm and moved her into the road.”
The hearing continues.