A disabled Dundee man said he feared he would be left paralysed after police wrestled him to the ground as they arrested him.
Lee Fraser, 48, has suffered multiple spinal problems, including a disk fusion and cysts on his brain, leaving him with permanent mobility issues.
He was charged with police assault and resisting arrest but found not guilty.
He has complained to Police Scotland about his treatment.
‘He needs to go to the floor’
Mr Fraser said the incident unfolded as he was returning home from Lidl on Dura Street one evening in March 2021, having been shopping with his wife Sheryl, when he saw blue lights flashing behind him.
It was at the height of the second Covid-19 lockdown.
“We had just left Lidl and were driving towards Forfar Road.
“We drove through the traffic lights and had just reached Morgan Academy when I noticed the police van, flashing their blue lights, pull up behind us.
“I pulled over and my wife and I opened the doors of the car to see what they wanted.
“The police officer in the passenger seat got out of the van and was charging towards my wife, screaming: ‘Get back in your car, get back in your car’.”
An argument ensued, with Mr Fraser adamant he is unaware why his car had been pulled over.
“I was holding myself up between the car and the open door.
“The officer who was driving, PC Bob Milne appeared right in front of my face, with no mask on, in the height of the Covid pandemic, screaming ‘get back in your car’.
“I asked him to step back because he was not wearing a mask and as he shouted, spit was flying in my face.
“Before I knew it, he is shouting ‘he is non-compliant, he needs to go to the floor’.”
Police officer ‘lost the plot’
Mr Fraser had a C3 and C4 disc removal in January 2020 and has difficulties walking because of issues with his spinal cord, essentially causing gaps between his brain telling his body parts to move and them doing so.
He walks with a frame or sticks.
He said: “PC Milne puts both his hands round my neck and yanks me.
“I heard my neck crack. PC Milne is not small.
“There was no reasoning with him. He lost the plot.”
The incident, from a point at which Mr Fraser is on the ground with officers pinning him, was recorded on a mobile phone by his wife.
The lead-up to that point was not recorded.
The footage shows Mr Fraser telling officers he is struggling to breathe as Mrs Fraser pleads with them to let him up due to his condition.
One says: “We can’t let him up in the state he’s in.”
As many as seven officers arrive to help deal with the situation.
Police charged him with assaulting PC Robert Milne by biting him, resisting arrest and acting in a threatening and abusive manner.
He was found not guilty of all three charges following a two-day trial at Dundee Sheriff Court earlier this year.
Sheryl’s mobile phone footage was shown to the court.
His neurologist wrote a letter to the court, as part of the trial, saying Mr Fraser could have been paralysed.
Under cross examination by defence solicitor Billy Watt, witness PC Justin Coff said the footage “did not look good”, something picked up on by Sheriff Martin Edington in his closing remarks.
No road traffic offence charges pursued
Mr Fraser said he still does not know why he was stopped, with all of the charges relating to what happened after.
He has submitted a complaint to Police Scotland, in an attempt to find out why he was stopped, as well as about the behaviour of the arresting officers.
“I am not anti-police, far from it.
“But if this complaint can stop that from happening to someone else, then it is worth it.
“I was afraid to drive for quite a while after it all happened.
“The whole time I have been thinking, it is the police who are doing this to me, who can I call?
“If you make a mistake and you do something wrong, you should be held accountable.
“It shouldn’t matter what sort of power you have.”
The Courier asked a series of questions of Police Scotland about the incident.
A police spokesperson responded only: “In June 2022 we received a complaint regarding this matter and therefore it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
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