Michael Stewart Smith assaults cop, causes Willowbank raceway chaos

An out-of-control father had to be pepper sprayed, tasered and pinned to a chair by three police in a drunken escapade that sparked chaos at Ipswich’s Willowbank raceway.

Profanity and pepper spray: Drunk dad assaults cop, causes raceway chaos

A Gold Coast dad was so drunk he had to be pepper sprayed, tasered and pinned to a chair by three police after creating a disturbance at the Willowbank Winternationals.

Broadbeach Waters bricklayer Michael Stewart Smith, 45, faced Ipswich Magistrates Court on January 27 after pleading guilty to public nuisance, seriously assaulting a police officer causing bodily harm and two counts of seriously assaulting police officers while adversely affected in a public place.

The court heard Smith went berserk at Willowbank Raceway on June 12 last year at the final day of the year’s Winternationals racing event.

Magistrate Andy Cridland said a member of the public notified police that Smith was causing a disturbance in the grandstand by making inappropriate comments about race fans.

When police approached him, Smith started filming them and they placed him under arrest for public nuisance.

Mr Cridland said Smith resisted, told a policewoman “there you go b*tch” and grabbed one of the officers.

The court heard he then lost his grip and scratched at the officer’s face, telling him “you won’t get me c*nt”.

Mr Cridland said Smith also tried to bite the officer before police used pepper spray in an effort to subdue Smith.

But it had no effect and three police were needed to pin Smith to his chair.

They struggled to handcuff him as he yelled “you b*tches” at them.

“It’s just not acceptable behaviour,” Mr Cridland said.

Defence lawyer Wesley Seewald said Smith was also tasered by the police during the arrest and “injured to some extent”.

He said his client was very embarrassed and ashamed by his actions, particularly as his son was present.

“He is certainly very apologetic to the police involved,” Mr Seewald said.

He said the offending was out of character and Smith had a limited criminal history.

Mr Cridland noted Smith was fined $2000 in Southport Magistrates Court in 2014 for assault offences, including serious assault, but no convictions were recorded.

Mr Cridland sentenced Smith to six months’ jail for the assault charges, wholly suspended for 12 months.

He was further ordered to perform 40 hours of unpaid community service and was convicted but not further punished for the public nuisance.

Convictions were recorded.