A man suffering from alcohol-induced psychosis wrestled a taser from a police officer and repeatedly struck him with the weapon during a violent confrontation in Aberaman. 🚨
Mark Workman, 44, was intoxicated and acting erratically when his partner called police after he began smashing up their home near Aberdare on February 28. Officers found Workman telling them his parents were “not his real mother and father” and demanding to speak to the “real police”.
When officers tried to detain him after he fled through the back door and smashed through a wooden gate, they deployed a taser twice. During the struggle that followed, Workman managed to grab the weapon from the officer’s grip.
Prosecutor Emily Jermin told Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court: “He then grabbed hold of the taser from the officer’s grasp and pointed it at the officer’s face before pulling the trigger. Fortunately, the cartridges in the taser had been used so the weapon did not function.”
Workman then used the taser as a weapon, repeatedly punching the officer and causing injuries to his eye, lips, chin, neck and behind his left ear, as well as breaking his tooth. The officer required hospital treatment for concussion and emergency root canal surgery. 💥
The defendant later told officers he had no recollection of the incident but said he had acted “out of order”.
Workman pleaded guilty to charges including making use of a firearm with intent, possessing a prohibited weapon, and assaulting an emergency worker.
In mitigation, Owen Williams said his client had overcome a class A drug addiction but continues to battle alcohol dependency and suffers from underlying mental health issues.
Judge Jeremy Jenkins said: “It’s intolerable that police officers who do a very dangerous job on behalf of us all are assaulted when called upon to act in the course of their duty. The way you behaved that night was frightening for all to see.”
Workman was sentenced to four years imprisonment.
