Assault of an Emergency Worker - Case Dropped

Case study summary

We represented a professional charged with assault of an emergency worker. He denied this and after careful review of body worn footage we uncovered the officer had not confirmed an assault. Our efforts led to the prosecution dropping the case after the first Crown Court hearing.

Case study

We were instructed by a 59-year-old man who had been charged with assault of an emergency worker following an evening in the City of London. Our client is highly regarded in construction and was celebrating a large project that was completed in the covid-19 pandemic.

After having a few alcoholic drinks with a close friend and colleague, the manager of a local pub called the police and reported that they were punching each other. The reality was that the two men, who were quite drunk, fell into one another while they were stood outside. When the police arrived, they grabbed our client from behind and he put his arms up in defence. With his back turned he was worried that he was being attacked. In a matter of seconds, two police officers had our client in handcuffs.

Knowing our client was adamant he had not assaulted anyone, we carefully reviewed the body worn footage of several officers who attended that night. Not only was there an excessive presence of police but the officer our client is said to have assaulted could not confirm any assault. Despite not being able to confirm an assault, his colleague is heard on camera making the decision to arrest our client anyway. It was clearly unjust.

We instructed an experienced barrister to bring this to light during the first crown court hearing. During this hearing, the judge questioned why the prosecution had brought this case given the weak evidence. From then on, we knew we had to keep fighting for our client.

We made submissions to the prosecution that, in light of the body worn footage, there was no case to answer. After we insisted that the prosecution carefully review their case, they decided to drop the charge against our client a week before Christmas. This meant our client was able to continue both his personal and work life as a man of good character. He was grateful that the reality of the situation was presented by us.