A policeman who received 30 stitches in the head in an attack by another officer has won a civil suit in the Supreme Court.
Corporal Dwayne Bethel made a claim against the commissioner of police and the attorney general for damages for personal injuries over the October 7, 2006 incident.
According to Bethel's case, he worked at the Detective Unit of the Carmichael Road Police Station and he went to work around 11:45 p.m.
According to the plaintiff, he met the door to the Detective Unit locked.
He was unable to enter because he did not have a key.  He chose not to go into the station to wait for his colleagues to return because he had a cold and did not want to be in an air conditioned room.
Instead, Bethel decided to sit in his van and listen to music.
Bethel said that three men, in civilian dress, carrying Uzis approached the vehicle and one of them shined a flashlight into the front passenger glass window.
Bethel said one of them pushed his hand into the driver's side window, turned off the ignition and pulled open the door. Bethel said the man pulled him out of the van and they began to struggle.  He said the man struck him on top of his head with the stock of the Uzi.
Bethel said another officer cranked his gun and pointed it in his face at point-blank range.  At this point, the officer who had initially hit him struck him in the head two more times, according to Bethel.
Bethel said PC 2488 Lloyd stopped the attack by informing the officers that he was a policeman. Bethel suffered cerebral concussion, memory loss and lacerations to the head.  As a result of his injuries, he could not attend work from October 8, 2006 to January 2007.  His salary was reduced by 7/8 for one month.
Detective Constable 2839 Ferguson, who inflicted the injuries, said that he and the other officers became suspicious because Bethel's van was heavily tinted and he was playing loud music.
Ferguson said they assumed that the person may have been waiting to "hurt an officer" who came out of the station.
According to Ferguson, Bethel was playing violent music with the lyrics "I had to bust my gun today."
Ferguson said he asked Bethel, who was wearing a tam and clear glasses, to turn down his music.
After repeating the request three more times, Ferguson said he reached into the vehicle to turn it down himself.  Ferguson claimed that Bethel grabbed his shirt and pushed him out of the vehicle, while maintaining a grip on the shirt.
Ferguson said the man grabbed his neck and he tried to free himself by striking the man in the head with his police-issued firearm.
Delivering her judgment on September 13, Justice Rhonda Bain said she was not satisfied that Ferguson properly identified himself to Bethel.
Bain said she was satisfied that Bethel knew they were officers because he saw them come from the station while carrying Uzis.  She said Bethel could have identified himself to the officers.  However, she found that Ferguson's actions were not justified.
Bain said, "The court finds that there was use of excessive force by Ferguson against the plaintiff. The use of the Uzi to assault the plaintiff who was unarmed and the force with which the Uzi was used was not justified in the circumstances."
She ordered the amount of damages be assessed by the registrar.
Elliot Lockhart and Simone Smith appeared for the plaintiff.  Kirkland Mackey and Kayla Greene-Smith appeared for the respondents.

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