‘Yeah, she’s breathing’… what police officer said after woman was slammed to the ground

This is the moment a Bristol police officer committed gross misconduct by using excessive force throwing a woman to the ground during a late-night arrest in the city centre. PC Ashley Tucker was given a final written warning for five years following a police misconduct hearing at Avon & Somerset force headquarters in Portishead last week.

The panel ruled he used “grossly disproportionate” force and found allegations of gross misconduct proved. It happened at the Centre in the early hours of April 16, 2023.

In the video one of the police officers can be heard saying ‘come here’ before arresting the woman for criminal damage. After a bus passes close to the woman’s head, one of the officers says ‘drag her over there’ as they pull her along. An officer can then be heard saying: “Yeah, she’s alright, she’s breathing. She’s doing fine.”

PC Tucker claimed during the four-day hearing that he took the action because the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, kicked a council bin several times, shouted aggressively as if looking for a fight and that he feared she was a threat to him and other members of the public. But the panel’s Legally Qualified Chair Adrian Phillips, announcing the decision on Thursday, February 27, said there was a significant distance between the female – Miss A – who was heavily intoxicated after a family night out, and anyone else as he ran up behind her.

Mr Phillips said: “Miss A wasn’t posing a risk to anyone else and this would have been apparent to PC Tucker. The panel concluded PC Tucker had already decided to perform a take-down manoeuvre.

“There was no reason for PC Tucker to protect himself or others. PC Tucker’s actions were unnecessary, disproportionate and unreasonable.”

He said the woman’s head made contact with the ground and that it was reasonable to assume that the 33-year-old constable may have caused her an injury, although the panel could not decide if bruising she suffered was from an earlier fall while drunk. Mr Phillips said the officer’s actions were not premeditated and that he did not intend to cause harm, so a final written warning, instead of the only other option – dismissal without notice – was sufficient.

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Barrister Mark Ley-Morgan, representing the constabulary, said: “It is violence against a vulnerable person. It’s more by luck than judgement that what the officer did didn’t result in a serious injury.

“It leads people to believe the police are heavy-handed, which is extremely damaging. No force at all was needed to effect that arrest. The force used was gratuitous.”

Barrister Julian King, representing PC Tucker, said: “This was a difficult and challenging environment and this was an absolutely isolated example of him falling below high standards. It was a bad misjudgement rather than setting out to deliberately cause someone discomfort or injury.”

The incident happened around 1.45am on a Saturday night. It was recorded by shocked members of the public on mobile phones and posted on social media.

The officer told the hearing that in hindsight he could have handled the situation better but believed he acted lawfully and with a policing purpose. Miss A was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage to the bin and being drunk and disorderly and taken to custody by other officers but was released without charge the following day and no further action was taken.

The incident was investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after a referral from the force. The IOPC also interviewed PC Tucker under criminal caution on suspicion of common assault and submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, which decided not to bring criminal charges.

The footage from the mobile phone and PC Tucker’s bodyworn camera was released by Avon & Somerset Police following a request by BristolLive, which originally applied for this to the LQC, who is independent of policing. Mr Phillips decided not to make a decision either way and left it down to the constabulary.