SA Police were told to drop assault case against handcuffed man Nathan Cross two years before his trial, court told

SA Police were told to drop claims this handcuffed man, who was knocked unconscious, had assaulted officers but proceeded regardless, a court has heard.

SA police were told to drop assault charges against a handcuffed prisoner, who was pushed headfirst into a counter and knocked out, two years before he was acquitted at trial, a court has heard.

The District Court has heard senior staff found there was “no reasonable prospect” of convicting Nathan Cross because of “credit issues” with the officer who accused him.

In internal documents, the staffers said there was “nothing on the CCTV” footage of the incident to sup­port Senior Constable Ben Higgins’ account of Mr Cross’s 2017 arrest.

There was, they wrote, no “threat of force” nor “action from Cross that can be defined as an assault”.

Senior Constable Higgins responded to the document, however, saying he disagreed.

“I believe that I was assaulted … he lunges toward me with his head on two occasions whilst being verbally aggressive,” he wrote.

“There was a very real possibility that he would carry out the threat he would, indeed, spit at me or strike me with his head.”

Nathan Cross is suing the State Government for malicious prosecution. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

Mr Cross is suing the state government, asserting he was maliciously prosecuted to “cover up” police assaulting him at the Victor Harbor police station in February 2017.

He was handcuffed, barefoot and surrounded by three other officers when Senior Constable Higgins pushed him, and he struck his head on the charge counter.

The lawsuit followed a court acquitting Mr Cross in September 2020, saying there was no evidence to support Senior Constable Higgins’ allegations.

Police have denied any “causal link” between Mr Cross’s injuries and the incident, while an internal inquiry did not result in any of the officers being charged.

Mr Cross sustained injuries in the incident. Picture: Magistrates Court registry.

One of the documents tendered as part of the lawsuit is an SA Police “charge discontinuance notice” dated August 2018.

In it, two officers reviewing the case note Mr Cross was “undoubtedly belligerent, awkward, obstructive and plainly rude” toward Senior Constable Higgins.

One said that, however, having “viewed the footage at length”, they could “not see any behaviour” by Mr Cross “that constitutes an assault against police”.

Their colleague agrees, adding Senior Constable Higgins’ statement “does not reflect what occurs on the CCTV footage”. A third officer, who investigated the case, wrote that he agreed with Senior Constable Higgins.

“His (Mr Cross’s) overall conducted is undoubtedly threatening, causing the victim to fear that he was about to be assaulted,” they wrote.

In court, Andrew Carpenter, for Mr Cross, asked prosecutors be ordered to hand over all further documentation explaining why the case proceeded to trial.

The lawsuit returns to court next month.