Officer discharged over assault on youth
A former police officer was discharged without conviction on an assault charge but ordered to write an apology letter to the youth he handcuffed.
As a police officer, Timothy Phillip Hartnell had issues with people riding bikes on the pavement in Pleasant Point, South Canterbury, said Judge Jane Farish at the Christchurch District Court hearing where the former officer was applying for the discharge.
The judge said he stopped one young man by grabbing his backpack, but he slipped out of it and ran off. Hartnell chased him, and he fell over and had a bleeding nose when Hartnell caught him. Hartnell handcuffed him and took him home to his mother.
There was a complaint laid with the police the next day and Hartnell resigned and moved out of the district.
Judge Farish said Hartnell had a blameless character, and a conviction would be a significant consequence for him and the community he now voluntarily served.
She said the young man’s victim impact report said he had been scared and had not ridden his bike since this incident. He was anxious and apprehensive of the police.
She told Hartnell to send a letter of apology to the victim, but said the effect of a conviction would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offence and discharged him without conviction.
Category: News
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