Bodycam footage of Canberra Raiders’ star Curtis Scott being tasered and handcuffed by police while half-conscious was played to a Sydney court yesterday.
The revealing footage from one of the arresting officers shows the 22-year-old rugby league centre passed out under a tree with a flashlight directed on his face, repeatedly saying he had done nothing wrong, before being capsicum-sprayed and tasered in the early hours of January 27 in Sydney’s Moore Park.
Despite Scott pleading guilty to offensive behaviour, those charges have now all been withdrawn along with charges of assaulting an officer and resisting arrest, after the court viewed the video evidence.
Scott’s defence lawyer Sam Macedone told the court the body cam footage clearly showed a man who was not resisting police.
“That’s a bloke who can’t even open his eyes and was so disoriented he thought he was getting dressed. That’s what they faced,” he said.
“The prosecution was unreasonable to start with and unreasonable to continue, given the evidence that was available.”
Mr Scott will have more than $100,000 in legal costs paid by NSW Police after magistrate Jennifer Giles ruled the NRL star would have been better off being “hit by a car” on the Australia Day weekend.
“Being capsicum-sprayed whilst you are handcuffed and not decontaminated for some 19-odd minutes, that’s much worse than anything I could do to you,” she said in the Downing Centre Court.
After the proceedings Mr Macedone said his client was happy with the outcome.
“I’m quite satisfied, Curtis is very satisfied with how it went; I think we got a pretty fair hearing,” he said.