Amadu-Abdullah v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2024] EWHC 3162 (KB)

Russell Fortt acted for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in a civil trial in the High Court of a claim for damages arising out of the use of a police use of a taser on a 14 year old boy which resulted in permanent and significant loss of vision in one eye. 

Police had received a call from a member of the public of a group of youths fighting on a housing estate and that a knife had possibly been sighted.  When officers reached the housing estate the Claimant, along with a group of youths all ran off.  The Claimant was then seen by an officer to be running towards the exit road of the estate and was brought down using a taser resulting in a head injury and loss of vision. 

The case concerned the lawfulness of the use of taser in such circumstances and in particular the question of whether the Claimant posed a risk to others at that time due to the fact that the officer believed the Claimant had a knife in his hand (although no knife was found) and that the Claimant was chasing other youths.

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Related barristers

Russell Fortt

Call 1999

Related areas

Police Law

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