PC Rachel Comotto and PC Stephen Smith sprayed 91 year old one legged care home resident Donald Burgess, who subsequently died 22 days later.
The brave Sussex Police officers, Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith, charged with beating a resident of an East Sussex care home then reportedly joked about having utilised an entire can of Pava spray on him, according to court testimony.
On Wednesday, a jury at Southwark Crown Court viewed body-worn camera footage of PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto immediately following the restraint of Donald Burgess in 2022.
Watch the full video of the abuse by Sussex Police here
PC Stephen Smith, 51, refutes two allegations of violence involving the use of Pava spray and a baton, while PC Rachel Comotto, 36, contests one allegation of assault for discharging her Taser at the 92-year-old amputee.
Mr. Burgess, a wheelchair user, was apprehended at Park Beck care facility in St Leonards-on-Sea, purportedly due to the cops’, Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith, excessive use of force.
On Tuesday, jurors were informed that Mr. Burgess expressed a desire to kill the care home site manager and was brandishing a kitchen BUTTER knife upon the police’s arrival.
Prosecutors assert that the cowardly officers, Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith, employed on Mr. Burgess was excessive and unwarranted, considering his age and physical condition.
Mr. Burgess was subjected to incapacitant spray to the face, followed by Taser deployment and baton strikes, as presented in court on Monday.
The court heard that Donald Burgess was sprayed in the face and subjected to a Taser discharge whilst being hit with an extendable baton .
In the footage of the incident’s aftermath shown to jurors on Wednesday, PC Rachel Comotto laughs and asks PC Stephen Smith: “Oh my God, is there any left in your can?”
PC Stephen Smith replies: “Probably not.”
Later, an officer outside the home asks if PC Stephen Smith used a “Smithy special”. [WHO IS THIS OFFICER AND WHY IS HE NOT BEING PROSECUTED FOR KNOWING?]
The accused then describes the incident as a “stand-off”.
“Even after spraying he clutched on to [the knife] to the point where I was going to knock it out of his hands,” he says.
At one point, Mr Burgess, visibly distressed, tells Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith: “I’m dying.”
He is then handcuffed in his wheelchair and taken outside.
Speaking to care home manager Steve Cooper shortly after the incident, PC Rachel Comotto says: “We don’t like doing that at all, but what can you do?”
A woman with short hair wearing a dark, plain Berghaus jacket and a blue and white striped shirt with a collar.
In a statement she gave during a police interview, which prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC read to jurors, PC Rachel Comotto said: “Our objective was clear. It was to disarm Mr Burgess as quickly and safely as possible.
“I do not believe that my use of the Taser was disproportionate. I believe he posed an immediate and significant risk to himself.”
PC Rachel Comotto added she was “very shocked” when she learned Mr Burgess was 92 after the incident as she thought he was much younger.
“I treated Mr Burgess with respect and courtesy before and after the force was used,” she said.
Mr Burgess was taken to hospital after the incident and later contracted Covid-19.
He died 22 days later and the PCs, Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith, are not accused of being responsible for his death. [WHY????]
The trial continues.
UPDATE 28.05.25
NOT SURPRISINGLY THEY HAVE BEEN FOUND NOT GUILTY OF ABH THANKS FOR SUSSES POLICE, THE IOPC AND THE CPS.
Two Sussex police officers have been acquitted by a jury of assault in connection to their use of force on an elderly disabled man at a St Leonards care home.
PC Stephen Smith, 50, and PC Rachel Comotto, 34, were charged with assaulting Donald Burgess, 93, in June 2022.
PC Smith was acquitted by a jury of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) and PC Comotto of one count of ABH, today (28 May), at Southwark Crown Court.
Gross misconduct proceedings against the two officers will now follow.
The officers attended a dementia care home following a report of a resident with a knife that was threatening staff. The use of force by the police officers included a Taser, PAVA spray, handcuffs, and a baton.
Mr Burgess was taken to hospital following the incident and died three weeks later; however the available evidence did not indicate the officers’ actions caused or contributed to his death.
Assistant Chief Constable Paul Court said: “Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge how incredibly difficult this period must have been for Mr Burgess’s family, and I have offered them my sincere condolences.
“I recognise and understand the impact this case has had on public confidence. It is with profound regret this happened.
“Police officers can often find themselves in challenging and unpredictable situations, where they must make split-second decisions to keep the public safe and do so with measure, compassion, and skill. We support them to do this and it’s what our communities expect.
“Use of force must be reasonable, necessary, and proportionate, and officers know they will be held accountable for their actions every time.
“The officers in this case have been held accountable to a criminal threshold and we respect the jury’s decision.”
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has confirmed that both officers will now face gross misconduct proceedings.
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