A man has been jailed for more than seven years after gouging the eye of an Avon & Somerset police officer after being detained for driving under the influence.
James Wilson, 33, of Albert Road, Hanham, was found guilty by a jury of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm at Bristol Crown Court on Monday, 22 August.
He was also convicted of assaulting an emergency worker, driving while unfit through drink or drugs, failing to provide a specimen of breath and driving without insurance.
The court heard that on Wednesday, 22 December last year, police were called at around 17:00 hours after a black BMW crashed into multiple parked cars on Lulworth Crescent in Emersons Green.
Wilson was seen by witnesses exiting the driver’s side door.
PC Luke Watson responded to the call for help and attended shortly after. He found Wilson at the scene who claimed that he ‘found his car like that’.
Wilson was placed in the back of the police car.
However, in an attempt to escape, Watson attempted to gouge PC Watson’s eye. Luckily additional officers arrived on the scene in time to pull Wilson off their colleague.
In the process, PC Craig Waters was also spat at. He then refused to give a sample when he was taken into custody.
Wilson was handed a prison sentence of seven years and four months after his actions led to PC Watson being signed off work for more than two weeks with severe swelling and bruising around his right eye.
Investigating officer PC Alex Higham said:
“The sentence reflects the severity of the crime and how seriously the courts take these matters. Violence against anyone will not be tolerated, especially emergency workers who are there to protect and serve the public.
“PC Watson was very lucky not to lose his eye or sustain any permanent damage, which could have been the case if not for the intervention of his two colleagues.”
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A fair sentence in these days of you have to kill someone to go prison but how long was he banned for the drink/drug driving or was he let off that?
Great to see a long sentence handed down now hopefully all Magistrates and Judges will follow. I personally think that all Magistrates should send all to Crown Court for sentences for assault on emergency worker’s.
Not my idea of a long sentence for attempting to blind someone