The Police Ombudsman has concluded that a police officer was justified in using CS Spray against a man who claimed he had hepatitis and attempted to rub blood onto officers who were attempting to restrain him.
The man was among a group of four men apprehended by police responding to a report of a break-in at a shop at Railway Place in Coleraine shortly after 2am on 16 November 2004.
A beer keg had been thrown through a window and two poker machines had been smashed and their contents removed. Some bloodstaining was found at the scene.
Two officers went to the scene before driving around the local area to try to find those responsible. They found a group of four men at the junction of Greenaway Drive and Artillery Road, two of whom had blood on their hands, which the officers believed could be connected to blood at the scene of the break in.
One of the men was also found to have a large number of coins concealed in a jumper - including £185 in pound coins, £26 in £2 coins, £23 in 50p coins and £3.50 in 10p coins.
Officers told Police Ombudsman investigators that as they tried to arrest these two men, one became disorderly - fighting, biting and spitting at officers, and attempting to rub blood onto them. He claimed to be suffering from hepatitis.
The officers requested assistance and three other officers arrived. One warned the man that if he did not stop struggling, CS Spray would be used. When this went unheeded the officer discharged a single burst of spray towards the man's head.
The man then stopped struggling and dropped to the ground. Officers handcuffed him and reassured him about the temporary effects of the spray.
The incident, like all discharges of CS Spray in Northern Ireland during the first five months following its deployment in the summer of 2004, was referred to the Police Ombudsman for investigation. The PSNI had requested that all discharges during this period be investigated by the Police Ombudsman, and the findings of those investigations have been fed back to the police.
Police Ombudsman investigators obtained statements from each of the officers involved in the incident. The statements corroborated each other. None of the civilians who had been involved co-operated with the Police Ombudsman's inquiries. Investigators also checked for CCTV footage of the incident, but none was available.
They also established that the officer who used the spray had been trained in its use and was authorised to carry it at the time of the incident.
Having considered the evidence, the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan, concluded that the use of CS Spray had been justified and had helped bring to an end the threat of a continued assault on police officers.
"The use of CS Spray was proportionate, within legislation and guidelines, and in accordance with police instructions and training," said Mrs O'Loan.