A security guard who detained a shoplifter in a busy Liverpool road said he felt “left out to dry” by four Merseyside Police officers accused of driving off.
PCs Jonathan Webb, Mark Higgins, Joanne Parr and Paul Birch had been travelling in a police car along Dale Street when they were flagged down by Tesco deputy store manger David Markey.
He asked them for help as security officer Shaun Rigby apprehended the thief – named Fagan – in the road after fleeing the shop.
The officers are subject to a misconduct hearing after allegedly declining to help.
They all deny that they breached standards of professional behaviour.
Mr Rigby told the hearing, the first to be held in public on Merseyside, why he had made the complaint against the police.
He said: “I felt I was left vulnerable in the situation, I was pretty much left out to dry.
“For four officers to drive up and say they can’t help and drive off especially on a busy road, it left me very vulnerable.”
Mr Markey said he told the officers that Mr Rigby was struggling with the suspected thief in the road and needed assistance.
The hearing was told that PC Webb, who was sat in the front passenger seat, wound down his window but declined assistance saying he was not “kitted up”.
It is alleged that the officers then drove off – all failing to provide either direct assistance or assistance by way of causing another patrol to attend.
The interaction between the officers and Mr Markey was said to have lasted nine seconds.
Mr Markey was forced to call 999 but before officers were able to arrive, Mr Rigby was assaulted by Fagan “kicking or kneeing” him in the head.
James Berry, representing the force’s professional standards department, said: “The position he was in on the road made him and Mr Fagan vulnerable to passing traffic.
“Mr Rigby called the duty manager [David Markey] who hailed down a passing police vehicle. The officers in that vehicle did not give assistance but drove off. A 999 call was then made but before the second set of officers arrived Mr Fagan kicked or kneed Mr Rigby in the head.”
The conversation with the officers is said to have taken place with the struggle “a matter of feet away from the police car”.
It is not disputed the officers did not call for back-up, and it is claimed PCs Webb (collar number 2073), Higgins (5343), Parr (4920) and Birch (6266) breached professional standards through their actions in the incident.
The hearing, scheduled for four days at Gardner Systems in Wavertree Technology Park, was shown CCTV of the incident and also played audio footage of Mr Markey’s 999 call.
The misconduct hearing is being heard by assistant chief constable Ian Pilling and two colleagues. They will be asked to decide whether the officers’ conduct amounts to gross misconduct, misconduct or neither.
A finding of gross misconduct means that the matter is deemed so serious that dismissal may be justified.
Roy Fagan, 31, of Westmorland Drive, Liverpool city centre, later pleaded guilty to stealing £4.62 worth of Jack Daniels alcohol and guilty to assault by beating in relation to Mr Rigby.
He was handed an eight week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.
Applications to dismiss the cases of PCs Parr and Birch on the grounds of no evidence were rejected by the panel.
The disciplinary hearing reconvenes tomorrow.
(Proceeding)
Source: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/