Nottinghamshire Police Payout to Man Wrongly Tasered, Fracturing Spine
Nottinghamshire Police has paid £30,000 in damages to Dimitri Moses after officers wrongly Tasered him during his 34th birthday celebration in July 2021. The incident left Moses with a fractured spine and other injuries.
Moses was Tasered by PC McClintock while approximately 1.8 metres (6ft) in the air, climbing a gate to escape officers he feared would assault him. The impact caused him to fall, lose consciousness, and fracture three vertebrae, alongside injuries to his chest, back, hands, and right shoulder.
Official policing guidance dictates Tasers should only be deployed as a “proportionate response to an identified threat,” not merely to secure compliance. Moses’s solicitor, Iain Gould, emphasised that Moses posed no such threat.
The events unfolded after Moses and two friends were asked to leave a bar in Nottingham due to an alleged breach of Covid social distancing rules. As they left, a security staff member reportedly threatened one of Moses’s friends. Moses then attempted to intervene with three police officers outside, leading to PC Butler allegedly pushing Moses across the street.
Moses stated PC Butler put a hand on his throat and pushed him against a wall, threatening him to leave the area within a count of ten. When Moses began counting, his solicitor claims Butler “lunged towards” him, a claim Nottinghamshire Police denies. Surrounded and grabbed by officers, Moses, fearing a beating, fled towards Sneinton Market.
Nottinghamshire Police stated PC McClintock discharged his Taser to prevent Moses’s escape and safely detain him, asserting Butler was attempting to arrest Moses for a public order offence. Moses maintains he was not informed of any arrest. Crucially, officers’ bodyworn cameras were not activated, and CCTV footage lacked audio, leaving key verbal exchanges unconfirmed.
Despite later being charged with a public order offence and resisting arrest, the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued proceedings against Moses. Home Office data for 2021-22 indicates Black individuals are approximately five times more likely to be Tasered than white individuals, a disparity Moses believes influenced his treatment. Nottinghamshire Police’s internal review found no evidence of racial influence.
