Curtis Scott arrest: Police commissioner Mick Fuller’s sympathy for cops on duty
Police commissioner Mick Fuller says he has sympathy for the officers who tasered Curtis Scott after a boozy Australia Day, and that more bodycam footage puts the NRL star’s arrest into context.
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NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller says he is “sympathetic” towards the police officers who tasered NRL star Curtis Scott while declaring “minutes and minutes” of extra footage show the footballer being asked to move on peacefully before they use force.
Fuller said police only had two options to remove Scott after he was found asleep under a tree at Moore Park in Sydney after a boozy bender on Australia Day this year.
The commissioner stopped short of offering his personal opinion of whether the actions of officers were lawful with Scott reportedly planning to sue NSW Police for at least $100,000 in damages after multiple charges against him were withdrawn.
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It followed police bodycam footage being played to the court which showed an unconscious Scott waving his arms at officers as they attempted to rouse him from his slumber at the foot of a fig tree.
“I watched the entirety of the event and I think sometimes you need to watch the entirety of the event to get it in context,’’ Fuller told 2GB’s Ben Fordham.
“In these situations, if someone is trespassing in your front yard, they are asleep, they are intoxicated, they’re a young fit man, there are only a couple of ways to get them out.
“And one of those is for them to stand up and come with you.
“Often in these situations, it does escalate — there’s nothing we can do about that, if the individual is not going to comply with a reasonable direction.”
Fordham interrupted the commissioner, stating: “He was asleep, he was drunk. Are you saying it’s right for him to be tasered?”
Fuller replied: “What I’m saying is, I’m sympathetic to police who had to do something with him.
“The other option is this — you put a baton under each of his arms, you squeeze it down and you put him in the back of the truck, now that is no less painful than being sprayed.
“But nevertheless, to get him up and to get him out of that public place, is that police have to go hands on.
“I’m certainly sympathetic, because we couldn’t leave him there, because if we did and he went on and committed more crimes, the police are liable.
“He had to come with us.
“There were minutes and minutes of them attempting to move him peacefully.
“Whether or not they used their powers lawfully, I can’t comment on that because it’s still subject to court proceedings and oversight.
“But I am sympathetic to police who turn up to deal with drunken idiots every night.”
Rugby league boss Peter V’landys had described Curtis Scott’s Australia Day arrest as ‘very disturbing’, as Raiders coach Ricky Stuart hit out at the police treatment of his young star.
Curtis Scott told News Corp about his nine months of hell, where his family were threatened, his career was in jeopardy and even his friends questioned him.