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| Wiltshire Police officer cleared of Taser assault | Wiltshire Police officer cleared of Taser assault |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A police officer who used a Taser on a naked man who threw his underpants at him has been cleared of assault. | A police officer who used a Taser on a naked man who threw his underpants at him has been cleared of assault. |
| Wiltshire PC Lee Birch, 30, fired the stun gun into Daniel Dove's chest during a strip search at Melksham Police station in December 2012. | Wiltshire PC Lee Birch, 30, fired the stun gun into Daniel Dove's chest during a strip search at Melksham Police station in December 2012. |
| Mr Dove, 24, was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and assault, but the case was later dropped. | Mr Dove, 24, was arrested for being drunk and disorderly and assault, but the case was later dropped. |
| The jury at Bristol Crown Court also found the officer not guilty of misconduct. | The jury at Bristol Crown Court also found the officer not guilty of misconduct. |
| It took the jury of six men and six women just more than an hour to acquit unanimously PC Birch. | It took the jury of six men and six women just more than an hour to acquit unanimously PC Birch. |
| The jury had heard Mr Dove had been arrested after a disturbance outside a nightclub in Trowbridge. | The jury had heard Mr Dove had been arrested after a disturbance outside a nightclub in Trowbridge. |
| Took off boxer shorts | |
| PC Birch had told the jury that Mr Dove "appeared to be drunk" and he considered the threat posed by him was "extremely high". | |
| The court had previously heard that during the strip search in a police cell Mr Dove took off his boxer shorts and flicked them at the officer, hitting PC Birch on the side of his face. | |
| CCTV footage of the incident shows PC Birch ripping the boxer shorts from Mr Dove and throwing them against the wall of the police cell. | |
| He fired his Taser weapon and then shouted "you have assaulted me for the second time". | |
| Mr Dove was left "prostrate on the ground" while PC Birch removed the prongs of the Taser from his chest. |