Mature student, 48, who ‘feared he would die’ when Met police officer Tasered him in his underpants loses £40,000 fight for compensation
- Carl Plumbley, 48, said he was was left ‘writhing in agony’ after tasering
- He wanted £40,000 from the Met over the incident in Croydon in 2015
- Mr Plumbley was tasered in his bedroom while he only had his underpants on
A student Tasered in his underpants by police in his bedroom has lost his £40,000 fight for compensation, despite claiming he ‘feared he would die’.
Carl Plumbley, 48, said he was was left ‘writhing in agony’ after a young constable blasted him with the Taser following a row between Mr Plumbley and his partner in Croydon in October 2015.
Mr Plumbley claimed he had been studying in bed in boxers and a t-shirt when the officer stormed into his bedroom after ‘steaming up the stairs like the Gestapo’.
He said he told the officer he wanted to get dressed, and that he would come out and talk to him.
But officer said he had used a taser as a last resort in response to his provocative conduct after he swore at him and ‘came at him in an aggressive manner’.
And after three days in court Judge Wall rejected Mr Plumbley’s £40,000 damages claim against the Metropolitan Police
Student Carl Plumbley who was suing the Met Police after being ‘tasered in his bed’ by them
The incident happened at property in Ansley Close, Croydon, when police arrived on scene
Mr Plumbley told London’s High Court during the trial of his claim: ‘I got up from the bed to shut the door as I wanted to get changed without the police officer present in my room.
‘I asked for a minute and shut the door, but he came through the door and pushed it back and that’s when he tasered me.
‘He tasered me in the chest. The barbs penetrated my skin. I was then tasered at least four times, it was a horrifying experience and I really felt it was the end of me.
‘I believe a couple of seconds more and I’d have been dead.
‘It totally dismantled me. I was writhing in agony.’
Mr Plumbley said he suffered PTSD and loss of concentration in the aftermath of the incident.
The case was heard and thrown out at the High Court in London before Judge Wall
He found it increasingly hard to keep up with his studies on his university course, which he was later forced to quit.
But Judge Wall rejecting Mr Plumbley’s damages claim, said: ‘I didn’t find him to be a reliable or persuasive witness’.
‘There is an unlikelihood of his account that the police officer was gratuitously aggressive despite the apparent absence of any provocation by Mr Plumbley,’ the judge added, also finding the officer who tasered him to be a ‘truthful witness’.
‘He said he always tried to enter dialogue rather than resort to force,’ she told the court, noting that in nine years spent carrying a taser he had used it just twice on duty.
Judge Wall found that the taser officer had not used ‘gratuitous force’, but responded to provocation and aggression as Mr Plumbley moved towards him.
Mr Plumbley had ‘pushed the officer in the chest enough to make him move back and stumble’ and slammed the door in his face.
And although he seemed to calm down for a brief period, Mr Plumbley then became ‘enraged’ when he overheard some comments made by his partner down the stairs.
‘Mr Plumbley roared and moved towards the doorway and the officer honestly believed that he posed a threat of harm,’ said the judge.
It was at this point he let fly with the taser in three separate bursts.
There was no room for him to use his baton, he couldn’t use his pepper spray and the officer felt intimidated by his presence.
Deploying the taser was a ‘reasonable use of force’, the judge decided, squarely dismissing Mr Plumbley’s case on assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.
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