A court has heard how a police officer was viciously attacked by a male he was pursuing following an altercation outside the ‘Vibe’ nightclub in Peterlee.
At around 03:00 hours on Sunday 2nd February, the officer spotted Jason Smyth arguing with another male outside the venue.
Durham Crown Court heard how the officer told Smyth that he was placing him under arrest, but Smyth immediately ran off and tried to climb over a wall.
Prosecutor Chris Wood told the court that the police officer attempted to restrain Smyth by grabbing him around the waist to pull him down and to prevent him from climbing over the wall.
The duo then fell to the floor, and Smyth placed the police officer in a headlock.
During the struggle, Smyth got on top of the police officer and proceeded to repeatedly punch the officer in the face and head, causing a cut to the officer’s cheek and a nose bleed.
After punching the officer, Smyth got up and tried to run off again, but the police officer got to his feet and continued to chase after Smyth as he attempted to climb over another fence.
Following a further struggle, the officer deployed his incapacitant spray and managed to take Smyth into custody.
When back at the station, Smyth urinated on the floor of the custody suite, meaning that it had to undergo a deep clean at the cost of £150.
In a victim statement read to the court, the officer involved in the arrest said he suffered from a black-eye, a bruised cheek and a nose bleed.
24-year-old Smyth, of Seventh Street, Blackhall Colliery, admitted assaulting an emergency worker by beating, threatening words and behaviour and criminal damage when he appeared before magistrates.
Smyth was committed to being sentenced at the crown court, where the hearing was told he has five convictions for ten offences.
These five previous convictions included a prior offence of resisting arrest, in March 2019, when he also had to be CS sprayed to enable police to detain him.
Defending his client, James Howard told the court that Smyth had ‘only’ punched the officer once and that, despite having previously shown aggression towards the police on a separate incident, his client was “very remorseful” and wanted to write a written apology to the police officer who he had attacked.
But Recorder Paul Greaney QC said the charges arise from, “the course of disgraceful behaviour” on the defendant’s behalf outside those premises that morning.
He imposed a nine-month prison sentence, adding that people who commit such offences on police have to go to custody.
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