PSNI officer cleared of 'Karate chop' allegations

By Michael McHugh, Press Association

A police officer has been cleared of causing a woman to break two ribs by "karate chopping" her over a rocking chair.

She told a Police Ombudsman investigator that she went to assist her son who had become upset after being advised he was to be arrested at their home in Co Londonderry in May last year.

However, she said an officer struck her on the upper part of her chest with "what I would describe as a karate chop", causing her to fall back over a rocking chair, breaking two ribs.

The woman provided a photograph of her injuries and reported that she had gone to hospital and been given painkillers.

A statement from the Ombudsman's office said: "A file was sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which directed that none of the officers should be prosecuted.

"The Police Ombudsman investigator also concluded that there were no grounds for any disciplinary action."

The officers at the house denied that they or any of their colleagues had struck the woman.

One said the woman had been slurring her speech and unsteady on her feet during the incident.

He added that the woman had been extremely abusive and had twice refused medical assistance.

Another officer said that the woman had at one stage thrown herself on a bed.

Several months later, the woman made an additional allegation that police had "created" a charge of obstruction against her after learning that she had made a complaint to the Police Ombudsman's Office.

Enquiries showed that the woman had been cautioned for obstruction on the night of the incident.