A criminal injury claim of significance to police officers in Northern Ireland was heard at the County Court in Cookstown, Co Tyrone, yesterday.
Constable Brian Wilfred Connor, of the RUC station, Cookstown, claimed damages for a wrist injury sustained when escorting "a very drunk man" out of the town's health centre in August 1995 at the request of the staff. The constable was injured when the man attempted to break free.
Judge Randal McKay dismissed the claim, as he ruled that the man, who was not under arrest at the time, had not committed an assault and the constable had not been undertaking an exceptional risk "by removing the man from the centre.
Earlier Constable Connor told the court the man had been verbally abusive and had challenged the police to fight. He had been making a nuisance of himself in a doctor's office and the nurse had asked the police to remove him. He and a sergeant were escorting him up - some steps when the man struggled and tried to break free.