Two Sussex police officers are on trial after pepper spraying a 92-year-old disabled man before shooting him with a taser and hitting him with a baton. He was taken to hospital after the incident and later contracted Covid, before dying 22 days later.
PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto were responding to a call at a care home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on 21 June 2022.
Staff called police after Donald Burgess, who had one leg, was seen poking a care worker in the stomach with a cutlery knife after flicking food at her. Staff managed to wheel Burgess back into his room and tried cooling him down for half an hour before calling 999. Here’s what happened when PC Smith and PC Comotto turned up:
Two police officers have gone on trial after they used pepper spray and a Taser on a 92-year-old care home resident who had one leg.
The officers were responding to a call from the care home in St-Leonards pic.twitter.com/YHB7THzMHI
— London & UK Street News (@CrimeLdn) May 19, 2025
Wow, was that really necessary? I mean, you could argue that Burgess was holding a knife, but he was 92 years old and sitting down in a chair ffs. Just take the knife off him? Or chuck a blanket on him and wait till he nods off?
In the end, it turned out to be death sentence because Burgess ended up in hospital where he caught COVID and died. So literally just shutting his door and waiting for him to fall asleep would have saved his life. Or maybe just making any attempt to deescalate the situation instead of assaulting a disabled man in his 90s.
PC Smith, 51, denies two counts of assault by using Pava spray and a baton, and PC Comotto denies one charge of assault by discharging her taser. Of course, the way they see it, is that their actions were completely lawful.
Prosecutors however claim the officers used “unjustified and unlawful” force, and didn’t even explain to Burgess why they were there before assaulting him. The poor sod probably didn’t have a clue what was going on!
Will be interesting to see how this plays out in court. RIP Donald Burgess.
To watch a bounty hunter taser a guy after his girlfriend spat at him, click HERE.
