A police officer has had blood spat on them after they asked a 22-year-old to stop drinking alcohol in an alcohol free zone.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Steven Crawford, of Armidale, was found guilty in his absence of two counts of hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty, assault police police officer in execution of duty and destroy or damage property in Dubbo Local Court on Wednesday, April 17.
Documents tendered to the court say that at 3.50am on Saturday, December 9 2023, police were patrolling an alcohol free zone at the intersection of Talbragar and Brisbane Street.
Hinder police:
At this time police saw Crawford walking across a pedestrian crossing drinking an open can of Jim Beam Bourbon and Cola.
Police stopped and made Crawford aware that the area was an alcohol free zone and consumption of alcohol in the area was prohibited.
Crawford said, "f--k off, you can't touch me!".
He continued to drink alcohol from the open can and walked off whilst swearing loudly.
Police exited their vehicle and called on Crawford to stop, but he refused to do so. Police walked behind him and continued to call on Crawford to stop and to cease drinking the alcohol and put the can in the bin.
Crawford said, "what are you going to do?" and refused to stop and continued to drink.
Resist police:
An officer moved towards Crawford and attempted to take hold of him, but Crawford spins out and away and trips over onto the footpath.
The officer moved to secure the man, attempting to take hold of his arms and restrain him with handcuffs.
Crawford applied counter pressure with his arms and attempted to force his torso up from the ground.
Crawford countered efforts to move his hands behind his back and additional police moved to assist.
Assault police:
During the struggle Crawford sustained an impact to his mouth, damaging a tooth and causing his mouth to bleed.
Crawford was secured with handcuffs and police attempted to gain details of his identity.
Crawford said, "you white land c--ksucker" towards one of the officers.
He then turned his head towards the right arm of the officer and spat an amount of blood and saliva over the inner forearm of the officer.
Additional police arrived and Crawford was moved to his feet, with his head being forced downwards to prevent further spitting at police.
Crawford was placed within the rear caged portion of a marked police vehicle and secured before being taken to Dubbo Police Station.
Malicious Damage:
While en route to the police station, Crawford proceeded to kick repeatedly at the rear caged door of the police vehicle, distorting the steel hinges and compromising the security and structural integrity of the rear door of the vehicle.
Upon arrival at Dubbo Police Station, Crawford was moved from the police vehicle to the legal charge room where he was secured in a dock.
A representative from the Aboriginal Legal Service was contacted and told Crawford was in custody.
Sentence:
In the police report, they say that the officers were "exposed to violence on a public street with the accused making the disgusting decision to weaponize his bodily fluids against police".
"The actions of the accused appear to have come about through intoxication and obnoxious self-entitlement."
Crawford was fined $1000.