A dramatic courtroom scene unfolded as evidence was presented of a police officer using a Taser on a suspected burglar, who then became wheelchair-bound after falling from a shed. The incident was recounted in detail during a trial.
Leonard Sandiford, 61, was left paralyzed from the neck down after PC Liam Newman, a 31-year-old officer, deployed his stun gun twice while pursuing Sandiford through East London neighborhoods.
PC Liam Newman, stationed at Ilford, is currently facing a trial at Southwark Crown Court, where he has pleaded not guilty to charges of grievous bodily harm against Sandiford.
The prosecution argues that PC Newman’s use of the Taser was excessive and therefore constituted unlawful force.
In his defense, PC Newman contended that using the Taser was his only viable option at the time and expressed his belief that Sandiford was attempting to harm him by allegedly trying to run him over.
The court reviewed bodycam footage capturing the intense chase that began at a bookmakers and wound through residential areas, culminating in Sandiford’s cry of pain and subsequent fall following the Taser deployment.
Jurors heard that Mr Sandiford fell ‘uncontrolled’ from almost six feet and suffered a spinal injury that left him tetraplegic and reliant on a wheelchair.
In his interview read to jurors, PC Newman said he and colleague PC Colin Searle were called to a Coral bookies in Woodford Green to reports of ‘loud banging’ in an apparent break-in.
Bodycam footage shows the moment PC Liam Newman fires his taser at Leonard Sandiford
Mr Sandiford fell from a shed after the Taser was fired for a second time
PC Liam Newman, 31, is on trial at Southwark Crown Court after denying causing grievous bodily harm
After approaching a van with Mr Sandiford at the wheel, PC Newman said it began to reverse – as he tried in vain to break into it with his baton.
PC Newman insisted that Mr Sandiford had tried to run him over, posing a ‘genuine and immediate threat’ to his life.
When giving evidence later in the session, PC Newman told court he feared his colleague could be dragged along and killed by Mr Sandiford’s van.
Mr Sandiford jumped out of the van and ran down Chigwell road before slipping through a gap in the fence behind some houses, the court heard.
Both officers gave chase, and PC Newman said he was concerned for any children or elderly people in the properties as he followed behind through the fence gap.
He said: ‘I had an honest belief that people in the properties were at imminent risk of harm from the suspect.’
As Mr Sandiford continued fleeing, PC Newman fired his Taser for the first time – which he claimed was the ‘only tactical option’ to prevent him reaching the gardens.
Mr Sandiford ‘gave out a yell but continued on his way’, prosecutor Irshad Sheikh said.
He kept running and went over a concrete wall onto a shed, when the officer fired again, according to the interview read to court.
PC Newman said his target was on a ‘flat surface’ when he zapped him the second time, and he did not believe he was in danger.
PC Newman told the court he had feared for his own life, as well as the well being of his colleague and local residents
But this second jolt incapacitated Mr Sandiford and he fell from the shed.
Mr Sandiford previously told jurors he remembered running from police and something hitting him in his neck or back.
He said: ‘Then my lights went out. I woke up in the Royal London Hospital about two months later.’
He has denied trying to burgle the betting shop and claims he only ran from police because he was ‘spooked’.
PC Newman said he had been in ‘imminent danger of harm from the suspect’ and described the tasering as a ‘pre-emptive strike’.
He said: ‘From start-to-finish the incident was about 5-7 minutes long from when I stopped the male in the van until he was tasered and assistance arrived.
‘Throughout the entire incident at no point did the male comply with anything I’d told him, he showed zero consideration for anyone else, his sole focus was getting away from us and he didn’t care who he hurt in the process.’
The officer insisted that his ‘entire focus during this time was to keep me, my colleague and anyone else around safe’.
Giving evidence, PC Newman denied he had been in ‘an aggressive mood’ at the time.
The trial continues.
