A Glenrothes woman accused police of behaving like the officers who killed George Floyd after they arrested her for ripping out an officer’s hair.
Caroline Garrity had been acting erratically as she searched for her dad in a Fife shopping centre.
After causing a disturbance in a nearby pub, officers tried to move her on but she grabbed hold of a female officer’s hair, eventually pulling it out.
After a struggle, the 44-year-old yelled: “Police brutality. Just like that boy in America”, presumably in reference to the death of George Floyd the previous year.
Shopping centre disturbance
Fiscal depute Michael Robertson told Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court officers had initially been helping Garrity but things quickly turned sour.
He said a member of the public had called with concerns about Garrity and she was traced at the Covid vaccination clinic at the Kingdom Shopping Centre in Glenrothes.
A short time later she was spotted wandering while constantly shouting: “Dad, Dad”.
He said: “Police told her to stop shouting but she went into a pub next to the locus.
“She continued to shout ‘Dad’ whilst walking in front of a projector screen on which customers were watching the football.
“She said to officers: ‘F*** off, where’s my dad?'”
Officers tried to guide her out of the pub but she told them: “I’ll punch you in the pus”
Mr Robertson continued: “An officer placed hands on the accused and attempted to arrest her.
”However the accused lashed out with her arms and hit PC Ellis.
“She then grabbed PC Ellis by the hair.”
The officer was dragged to the ground and in the struggle a chunk of her hair was ripped from her scalp.
Vaccination
Officers moved to restrain Garrity.
Mr Robertson said: “When requested to stop she shouted: ‘I’ll bite your pus off’.
“She then stated: ‘Police brutality – just like that boy in America’.”
Solicitor Danielle Stringer, defending, said Garrity’s erratic behaviour was due to a health condition.
She said: “She had attended at the Kingdom Shopping Centre for her Covid vaccination.
”There was a mix up with her medication and she did not receive that. Things escalated from there.
“She fully accepts responsibility for her actions.
“She accepts this is not the way to behave at all.”
Garrity, of Dunbeath Drive, admitted assaulting PC Stefanie Ellis at Carrick Gate, Glenrothes, on July 6 last year.
Sentence was deferred for reports.
Black Lives Matter
In April 2021, a jury in America returned a guilty verdict against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for killing George Floyd.
He was convicted of murder and manslaughter after pinning Mr Floyd’s neck to the pavement with his knee until he died.
Mr Floyd, 46, died on May 25 2020 after being arrested on suspicion of passing a counterfeit $20 bill for a packet of cigarettes at a shop.
His murder sparked a wave of protests across America and invigorated the Black Lives Matter movement.
