A police officer will face a misconduct hearing after she Tasered a race relations officer in the face, mistakenly believing him to be a man wanted on drug charges.
Police constable Claire Boddie fired the stun gun at Judah Adunbi in Bristol on January 14, 2017 after he refused to give his name and pushed her colleague’s arm off of him.
It is alleged in the misconduct notice that Boddie drew her Taser after Adunbi “became hostile and aggressive”.
She holstered the weapon at first after Adunbi became “more compliant”, the notice says.
But she later drew her Taser again before firing it at the community elder, hitting him in his jaw.
In May Boddie was cleared in criminal court of assaulting Adunbi.
The misconduct notice says that, immediately prior to firing the Taser, Adunbi was moving away from Boddie’s colleague and his hands were by his side.
The notice adds that Boddie had the opportunity to warn the male that she had drawn her Taser and was preparing to use it, but did not do so.
“PC Boddie fired her Taser in such a way that one of the barbs struck the male in the face,” it continues.
“PC Boddie’s alleged actions constituted a breach of the standards of professional behaviour for the use of force. The alleged conduct taken individually or together, amounts to gross misconduct.”
The misconduct hearing is due to take place at Avon and Somerset Police Headquarters on September 5 and 4.