Man awarded £100k after police officer punches him in road rage attack
A motorist who was smacked in the face by a police officer before being wrestled to the ground during a roadside bust up has won £100,000 in compensation.
Shane Price was reportedly left "mentally traumatised" after being punched, stamped on and wrestled to the ground by Jonathan Mellor - a veteran with over 30 years' service - while his terrified wife filmed the ordeal from the passenger seat.
The horrific scenes unfolded during a "road rage" incident on the A46 between Newark and Lincoln on May 26, 2021.
Mobile phone footage taken at the scene show Insp Mellor, of Lincolnshire Police, landing a punch on Mr Price, stamping on his foot and spouting expletives.
He barked: "I'm going to take you to the f***ing ground" and "You've been f***ing pulled, haven't you?".
Mr Price has now been awarded a hefty six-figure compensation sum and had his legal fees covered, reports the BBC. The episode led to the officer being slapped with a common assault charge, but he was cleared in May 2022.
However, a police misconduct panel ruled earlier this year that Mellor's behaviour amounted to gross misconduct and said he would have been booted off the force if he hadn't already retired.
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Insp Mellor, who was based at Grantham, told a police misconduct hearing that he punched Mr Price as a "distraction technique" before pinning him to the ground. But after a two-day hearing held at Bishop Grosseteste University earlier this year in January, a panel concluded that Mr Mellor's actions amounted to gross misconduct.
The incident kicked off after Mr Price flagged down Insp Mellor at around 9.15pm, claiming the cop had been snapping pictures of him while driving. Both vehicles pulled into a slip road, where things quickly turned ugly.
Footage shown at a disciplinary hearing in January showed Mellor - in plain clothes but wearing his uniform underneath - shoving Mr Price onto a grass verge before lashing out with his fist and stamping on his foot.
Liz Briggs, representing Lincolnshire Police, described the men as appearing to "grapple with one another", with Mr Price repeatedly questioning, "What are you doing?". Hunter Gray, speaking for Insp Mellor, justified a punch to Mr Price's face and a stamp on his foot as a "recognised distraction technique" to "take control of Mr Price" due to his "increased agitation".
He labelled it a "road rage" incident and queried if the couple were "looking for trouble" when they asked the officer to pull over.
Inspector Jonathan Mellor denied taking any pictures of Shane Price and claimed he was simply trying to "create a space where I'm in control of him and out the way of traffic". Justifying the punch, he stated: "If I'd have punched him with my full force I would have knocked him out."
He further explained: "I'm going for the red area, the face, but I'm mitigating that as a distraction strike."
Video evidence shown during the hearing also picked up the moment Mellor used strong language, threatening to "put you down" while ordering Mr Price to stay put.
Ms Briggs stated that Lincolnshire Police felt the officer "had no reason" to exert the level of force he did, labelling it as discreditable conduct. In his testimony, Insp Mellor described seeing the yellow van driven by Mr Price "meandering across lanes" before he overtook it.
When asked by Ms Briggs whether his actions were appropriate, Insp Mellor doubled down: "I do believe it was a reasonable use of my powers. I feel I'm the victim here. I'm not the aggressor or the offender."
He did concede that he "should have driven further down the slip road and stopped in a different place", acknowledging it might have been a safer choice. Jennifer Ferrario, the legally qualified chairwoman of the panel, declared that the panel deemed Insp Mellor's actions of punching and stamping on Mr Price, as well as restraining him on the ground, were "entirely unnecessary, unreasonable and disproportionate".
The panel also concluded that the threatening and abusive language employed by Insp Mellor was "entirely unjustified". "The level of force used had been unjustified and could have been easily avoided," Ms Ferrario commented.
"There was no reason for Mr Price to have been taken to the ground and restrained as he was."
Insp Mellor showed a "demonstrated inability in the circumstances to control himself" and there was "no evidence of accountability" or "offer of apology" from him, she stated. Insp Mellor left the force in July 2022, but would have been sacked if he was still serving.
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