Police in Mr Burgess case sacked

It was awful, wasn’t it 😥
How did these 2 ever get into the service.

Yes, the correct decision. Inappropriate use of force and excessive use of force is always unacceptable and always should be treated as gross misconduct.

The video footage at the time was awful.

True gross misconduct, they deserved to be sacked from the force.

I can’t watch the video footage again, saw it once and felt sick to my stomach.
No attempt was made to subdue the vulnerable man by just calmly talking him down, they acted like brutes and the female officer later joked about it. The family must be hopping mad.

I thought it was awful. Yes the correct decision.

I find it very hard to understand how a jury could previously have found these two officers not guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

I’m very glad they’ve been sacked - they both deserve it.

Correct desition.

I remember that. Truly disgraceful.
What was wrong with a couple of carers sorting it out if it was only a butter knife.
Mind you it’s all ‘elf n safety’ now.
I remember talking down an elderly bloke with dementia who assaulted another resident with one of those old chrome kettles, remember those with the long, sharp spout. The bloke ended up with stitches in his face.
We never called the police.

MT62

I remember that. Truly disgraceful.
What was wrong with a couple of carers sorting it out if it was only a butter knife.
Mind you it’s all ‘elf n safety’ now.
I remember talking down an elderly bloke with dementia who assaulted another resident with one of those old chrome kettles, remember those with the long, sharp spout. The bloke ended up with stitches in his face.
We never called the police.

Am not sure why a carer didn’t ask a member of the family to come and try to calm their relative down before ringing the police. When my DH was in hospital after suffering a stroke the elderly gentleman in the opposite bed had dementia and suddenly kicked off, grabbing his dinner tray and threatening to hit one of the nurses, his daughter was immediately alerted and was there within half an hour and with the nursing staff managed to calm him down. He was a sweetheart the rest of the time, told everybody who cared to listen that we were all staying in a lovely hotel.

Why didn’t they just call security Falling star.
We didn’t have security guards where we worked, one resident’s family lived south & the other didn’t have any living family.
The guy who was assaulted, family were notified who didn’t want police involved at the time.

Yes it's good they've been sacked but they also should have been charged with assault IMO.

Absolutely disgraceful behaviour from those officers. I’m glad they’ve been sacked. That poor old man looked so scared, my heart went out to him.

Smileless2012

Yes it's good they've been sacked but they also should have been charged with assault IMO.

They were and were acquitted in 2025. As Delila says, I can't understand how a jury could find them not guilty.

Fallingstar

MT62

I remember that. Truly disgraceful.
What was wrong with a couple of carers sorting it out if it was only a butter knife.
Mind you it’s all ‘elf n safety’ now.
I remember talking down an elderly bloke with dementia who assaulted another resident with one of those old chrome kettles, remember those with the long, sharp spout. The bloke ended up with stitches in his face.
We never called the police.

Am not sure why a carer didn’t ask a member of the family to come and try to calm their relative down before ringing the police. When my DH was in hospital after suffering a stroke the elderly gentleman in the opposite bed had dementia and suddenly kicked off, grabbing his dinner tray and threatening to hit one of the nurses, his daughter was immediately alerted and was there within half an hour and with the nursing staff managed to calm him down. He was a sweetheart the rest of the time, told everybody who cared to listen that we were all staying in a lovely hotel.

Me neither Fallingstar, I said exactly the same to DH.

Mr Burgess was 92, an amputee in a wheelchair with dementia so why was there no member of staff in the home able to deal with an obviously confused and distressed man? There should have been members of staff qualified in dementia care on the premises, so why did they call the police?

Those two ex police officers are a complete disgrace. It was an assault on an elderly confused man. Why they were found not guilty of assault by a jury is mystifying.

At least they have been sacked, they are not fit to be police officers.

and the female officer later joked about it
Yes, she joked about it on Facebook afterwards.

They put him in handcuffs and he went to hospital after the incident.

Found not guilty what were the jury thinking.

BlueBelle

Mr Burgess was the elderly gentleman in a care home who was tasered and pepper sprayed by two police officers as he held an eating knife in his hand The force used was horribly excessive and thankfully both police officers have now been sacked
I believe this is the correct decision what do you think ?

Difficult to say without all the information. Isn't that why we moved from guilt by gossip to judicial decisions?

Watching the footage on the News last night.

Surely a couple of staff could have talked quietly to him, and one of the officers got behind him and either grabbed or knocked the (dinner) knife out of his hand?

He was a 92 year old amputee, not a fit, strong young man in his 20’s.

Actual footage of what happened isn't gossip DAR nor presumably was the information of the female officer joking about it on Facebook.

My heart went out to this poor gentleman.
What threat was a 92 year old amputee with dementia posing to 2 police officers? Their response was way over the top. Shouting at him, pepper spray, waving a baton then using the Taser.
This man ended up in hospital where he caught and died from Covid. The police officers are not being deemed as responsible for his death. Well, without their heavy handed and downright cruel treatment he would not have needed hospital admission and his exposure to Covid. I blame them.

No wonder he didn't drop the knife, he was probably terrified.
A report says he had a UTI which had caused delirium; this would mean he had no clue what was happening and his reactions would not be normal which is why he probably was holding the knife in the first place.

Police are trained in negotiation and talking people down from dangerous situations. These two were outright bullies and, from the footage, had no intention of dealing with the situation in a calm and professional way.

Absolutely the correct and right decision, morally and legally.

I am a huge supporter of the police but in this case it is right that they were sacked. However, police officers are called on a regular basis to care homes near me because staff have not been trained properly in how to deal with situations like this. A kindly carer could have prevented this from ever escalating to the horrible situation that followed.

It's probably good they've been sacked.
Training isn't the answer to everything, but if they'd had some dementia / delirium awareness they may have realised that patience & de-escalation rather than force was called for in that situation.
The knife looked nasty, it had to be a steak knife? & as someone who has been attacked by someone with dementia, the fact they're frail & elderly doesn't cancel out the fear. Also it's well known that humour is used to cope in stressful situations - maybe she was joking not because she didn't care but because she felt guilty.They made poor decisions & were unprepared, but I don't know whether or not they were bullies on the clip I saw.