Man who fell from wall after being tasered by police now confined to wheelchair
Leonard Sandiford said he remembered being hit in the neck or back and waking up in hospital about two months later.
A man who fell from a wall after being tasered by a police officer is now confined to a wheelchair, a court has been told.
Leonard Sandiford was running away from police in Woodford Green, east London, when he reached a cul-de-sac and climbed on to an outbuilding.
Metropolitan Police Constable Liam Newman, 31, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court accused of grievous bodily harm against Mr Sandiford who was seriously injured when he fell to the ground after being tasered.
Newman had been with another officer responding to a report of attempted burglary of a bookmakers in Chigwell Road, Woodford Green, at 5am on April 24 2022.
After a chase, Mr Sandiford was tasered and fell from a height of five to six feet, sustained an injury to his spinal cord and is now tetraplegic and in a wheelchair, Irshad Sheikh, prosecuting, told jurors.
Opening the case on Monday, Mr Sheikh said: “Mr Sandiford was simply running away. He was not a threat to either of the officers.”
Jurors were told the prosecution case is that Newman firing the Taser in the circumstances was an unreasonable use of force and was therefore unlawful.
“Pc Newman, as you would expect, had been on training programmes for the deployment and use of Tasers,” Mr Sheikh told jurors.
“That training highlighted the risks involved where subjects were running away and the risk of injury being increased as they would be moving at a higher speed.
“That risk increased further when a subject was at a height. A person being incapacitated in these circumstances would inevitably lead to the risk of an uncontrolled and unsupported fall.
“The risk of injury being caused in these circumstances should have been obvious to Pc Newman.”
Giving evidence, Mr Sandiford said he remembered running from police and something hitting him in his neck or back.
“Then my lights went out,” he told jurors. “I woke up in the Royal London Hospital about two months later.”
After being called to the scene in Chigwell Road, the two officers approached a white Ford van which Mr Sandiford was driving, and cut it off as it approached a side road.
The pair tried to stop the vehicle and Newman used his baton to strike at the driver’s side, opened the driver’s door and tried to pull Mr Sandiford out, the court heard.
The van was moving back, which Mr Sheikh said was probably a result of the handbrake not being applied.
Newman got his Taser out and pointed it at Mr Sandiford, who was still in the driver’s seat.
Mr Sandiford held his hands up as he got out of the vehicle, jurors heard, as Newman shouted at him to get on to his knees.
The alleged victim bent his knees slightly but then began to run and was pursued by the two officers.
Kevin Baumber, defending, asked whether he had been trying to burgle the betting shop, which Mr Sandiford denied.
He told the court he ran from police because he had been “spooked” after seeing a truncheon and a Taser.
“I made a promise to my children that I wouldn’t go down that road again and I wouldn’t go back to prison,” he said.
“I just told myself I ain’t going to jail for something I ain’t done.”
Newman fired his Taser twice during the chase, jurors were told, and then twice when Mr Sandiford had scaled the wall of the shed.
After the first shot while Mr Sandiford was on the wall, he “gave out a yell but continued on his way”, Mr Sheikh said.
The second discharge incapacitated Mr Sandiford, leading him to lose control of his muscles and fall to the ground.
Newman denies grievous bodily harm and the trial continues on Tuesday.
