UK Cop SUCK!: Police Pepper-Spray 93-Year-Old Amputee In A Wheelchair Before Beating Him With A Baton Because He Has A Small Pen Knife

A 93-year-old disabled man was sprayed in the face with synthetic pepper spray before being shot by a Taser and hit with a baton, by police officers responding to a call at his care home, a court in Britain has heard.

Donald Burgess, who has one leg, was allegedly assaulted by police officers Stephen Smith and Rachel Comotto, at the home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 21 June 2022.

Prosecutors claim the officers used "unjustified and unlawful" force within seconds of entering the wheelchair-bound pensioner's room.

Southwark Crown Court was told on that one minute and 23 seconds elapsed between the officers arriving and Mr Burgess being shot with the Taser.

Mr Smith, 51, denies two counts of assault by using Pava spray and a baton, and Ms Comotto denies one charge of assault by discharging her Taser.

Staff had called police after Mr Burgess was seen poking a care worker in the stomach with a knife after flicking food at her.

Managers wheeled him back to his room and tried for half an hour to calm him before calling 999.

The officers were dispatched under a grade one call, meaning it was treated as the highest level of emergency.

Prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said Mr Burgess was sitting in his wheelchair holding a small serrated cutlery knife when the officers entered the room.

They did not speak to the staff or explain to Mr Burgess why they were there, jurors heard.

Instead, Mr Smith told him: "Do you want to put the knife down or you will be sprayed or tasered. Those are the options."

Footage from body-worn cameras played to the jury showed Smith then discharging the spray directly into Mr Burgess's face.

"Comments made by Mr Smith suggest he emptied all of the canister into Mr Burgess's face," Mr Jarvis said.

Seconds later, Mr Smith drew his baton and struck Mr Burgess.

Ms Comotto then deployed her Taser, and Mr Burgess cried out in pain.

The officers then took the knife from him.

Jurors were told there was nobody within arm's reach of Mr Burgess at the time and it should have been clear he was not mobile.

"It ought to have been obvious by the fact he had one leg that this was a man who wasn't going to be mobile," Mr Jarvis said.