An experienced police officer has been thrown out of the force with immediate effect after he was found guilty of gross misconduct for taking a handcuffed man to the floor and striking him. Describing the actions of Sergeant Rhodri Davies towards detainee Tariq Evans as “deplorable” and “unjustified” a misconduct panel judged that the actions were so serious as to warrant dismissal.
The hearing in Bridgend had been told that Sgt Davies, who had nearly 20 years experience in South Wales Police, “lost patience” with Tariq Evans when he was brought into Swansea Central Police Station on October 24 2022. Mr Evans had presented no risk of violence in the custody suite but Sgt Davies swore at him, pulled him to the floor and hit him when he lay prone and cuffed on the ground.
The “popular” police sergeant, who had a previously unblemished and “exemplary” record, had lost his temper with Mr Evans who he had no prior knowledge of before he was brought in, the hearing had been told. But custody officers had been alerted before Mr Evans was brought in that he had been violent on arrest and before that. . For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.
Sarah Evans, mother of Tariq Evans
(Image: Abbie Wightwick/WalesOnline)
Announcing the panel’s verdict on January 17 after a two week hearing in Bridgend Panel chairman Christopher McKay said: “There was no justification for Sgt Davies’ actions which were intentional and deplorable.”
He said Mr Evans was likely to have suffered physical and psychological pain and Sgt Davies’s actions risked bringing South Wales Police into disrepute. Mr Evans was intoxicated and un-cooperative and of large build, but posed no threat at the time and the actions were unwarranted.
Mr Evans was so agitated and violent he was handcuffed with hands behind his back, put in a spit hood and leg restraints when he was arrested. But by the time he was brought into the police station he had calmed down, leg restraints were off and his spit hood removed.
While he was making verbal threats, he presented no risk of violence, the panel judged. Earlier in the hearing they said Sgt Davies’ actions taking the detainee to the floor were dangerous and reckless. “Violence towards prisoners is not acceptable, even when they are agitated and un-cooperative,” said Mr McKay.
“When taken to the floor Mr Evans was not an immediate threat.. Police Sergeant Davies’s actions were carried out when he lost patience with Mr Evans and he resorted to unlawful violence against him.”
Mr McKay said the public would be concerned to know how the detainee had been treated. Police stations were places where people should be safe and prisoners treated with dignity and respect – Mr Evans had not been treated with dignity and respect and was vulnerable due to being intoxicated, he added.
The panel had already found that while Sgt Davies’s action in the custody suite amounted to gross misconduct his actions in the cell afterwards were misconduct, but taken together they constituted gross misconduct. The panel found that his actions pulling Mr Evans to the floor and striking him in the custody suite amounted to gross misconduct but his actions putting pressure on his neck in an unsafe “C clamp” and kneeing him once in the cell were misconduct only.
Appealing to the panel to impose a lesser sanction on his client once he had been found guilty of misconduct, Colin Banham representing Sgt Davies said: “You have an officer before you who has given 20 years of exemplary service, who has gone above and beyond the call of duty on many occasions. You have character references.”
He said the incident was “an incredibly small snapshot of the years of service this officer has given” and that Sgt Davies was an experienced, popular and well liked officer.
But the panel said while they took these factors into consideration Sgt Davies had shown “no insight” and his actions so serious that they judged he be dismissed from his job with immediate effect. His actions risked the reputation and public confidence in South Wales Police and it would not be right for him to keep his job with a lesser sanction.
The hearing followed the jailing of another police officer for using unreasonable force during the arrest of Mr Evans shortly before he was brought into the custody suite. PC Jack Williams, 27, was recorded on another officer’s body camera beating Mr Evans after chasing him after an allegation of criminal damage. Williams was found guilty of assault by beating at a trial at Newport Crown Court in August 2023 and jailed for 12 weeks.
An investigation into Sgt Davies was launched after one of the officers at the scene PC Rees told superiors that he had seen him pull Mr Evans to the floor and strike him for no apparent reason. During the hearing PC Rees appeared to backtrack on this and told the panel the force Sgt Davies used was proportionate, as did other officers giving evidence.
The allegations found proved
That on October 24, 2022, whilst on duty as a custody sergeant at Swansea Central police station custody suite as custody sergeant he breached the following Standards of Professional Behaviour:
Standard 4 – Use of Force. Police officers only use force to the extent that is necessary, proportionate, and reasonable in all circumstances.
Standard 9 – Discreditable Conduct. Police officers do not behave in a manner that discredits the police service or undermines public confidence, whether on or off duty.
It is contended that the officer used force that was unnecessary, disproportionate, and unreasonable and that the force used was unlawful in all the circumstances.
The panel found Sgt Davies’s action in the custody suite amounted to gross misconduct while his actions in the cell afterwards were misconduct, but taken together they constituted gross misconduct.
After the hearing Mr Evans’ mother Sarah Evans welcomed the outcome, She said it was “a good thing” that Sgt Davies was no longer a police officer and that her son was “a broken man”. She said he had suffered mental and physical trauma and although he is working as a laminator he has found it hard holding down a job since the incident. She said he has autism and ADHD but denied he was intoxicated on the night.
She said he was never charged with any offence in relation to his arrest on October 24, 2022 and that when she had gone to pick him up from the police station he had two black eyes and a swollen and bruised face. “Tariq is a broken man,” said his mother, “The last two years since this he can’t form a relationship and has had two jobs.
“He lives with me and just goes to work and comes home. I won’t forget that when I picked him up from the police station he had two black eyes, his face was swollen and bruised.”
Describing the outcome of the hearing as “fantastic” Mrs Evans said she had not decided with Tariq whether to now take matters further and seek any damages from South Wales Police. “My son was unlucky enough to get beaten up twice by police. A sergeant with 20 years experience should not have done that.
“He was not taking drink or drugs that night. I believe he had been spiked. He is 6ft 8in and 15 stone and has autism and ADHD but he was never charged with anything from that night. This has all had lasting mental effects on him and he is under a mental health team and on medication for that. He is a shell of a man now. At least that officer won’t be in the force anymore.” For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter.
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