Far too often, we end up sharing a story about ‘individuals’ who have been effectively ‘let off’ with a fine, despite assaulting a member of the emergency services….
Whenever we share such a post, we always read the comments and our team of former emergency services personnel are often shocked at some of the stories which we read in the comments, in relation to our colleagues who have been assaulted whilst at work, only to find out later on that the ‘accused’ has been ‘left off’ with just a telling off.
We also end up reading some comments written by people who think that being assaulted whilst on duty is a ‘part of the job’ and it’s what emergency services personnel ‘sign up for’.
What utter rubbish! No-one in uniform every deserves to be assaulted, regardless as to the colour of their uniform and tougher sentences need to be handed down to those who do assault our ‘oppos’.
But unfortunately, rarely do the culprits responsible for assaulting front-line emergency services personnel ever get sent to prison.
That’s why we were quite surprised to learn about the jailing of someone who tried to spit at the Police!
The male in question from Milford Haven tried to bite a police officer who had found him swearing, spitting and foaming at the mouth.
Alex David Brown, of Chestnut Way, Mount Estate, appeared from custody at Haverfordwest magistrates court on Tuesday, August 14.
In court, he pleaded guilty to assault and public order charges, admitted not surrendering to bail, and failing to comply with the requirements of a community order by missing appointments.
So, fair enough, it wasnt just the assault charges which led him to spend time at her Majesty’s pleasure, but they formed a part of his custodial sentence.
The community order was made following a conviction for burglary of a dwelling, and Brown only completed 25 hours of the 150 hours he had been sentenced to.
Vaughan Pritchard-Jones, prosecuting, told the court that PC Mitchell heard shouting and swearing while he was at the Mount Estate at around 16:00 on May 14.
He found Brown, 24, lying on his back on the ground, foaming at the mouth.
Brown then suddenly spat towards the officer and swore at him, telling him he ‘should press his emergency button’ as he was going to ‘head-butt him’.
The lone officer called for assistance when Brown spat at him again and punched his hand into his fist in an aggressive and threatening manner.
Mr Pritchard-Jones said: “Other officers arrived, but he continued to try and spit at the officer while being arrested. Some of the spittle landed on PC Mitchell’s body.”
Brown also tried to bite the officer, but PC Mitchell’s wallet was in the area he attempted to bite and he failed to make contact with or pierce PC Mitchell’s skin.
Mike Kelleher, defending, told the court that Brown, who was on benefits, had difficulty getting transport to attend his probation appointments.
“It appears that he sadly lost interest in going, and has been waiting for the day to come when he was going to be arrested.”
Ok, so it seems as if the fine and upstanding citizen in this case had an inclination towards criminality and that such an inclination is what led to him being jailed, but at least the Court cited the offences against the Police as being a part of what led to him being sent to prison!
We’ll take that!
