Play fight ends in man's arrest

Tuesday 13 August 2019

A man has been fined £1,000 for his attitude towards police officers after they asked him to stop 'play fighting' with his cousin during a night out in July.

Casey Luffman, 21, was at the Lower Pollet on 7 July this year when an officer approached him to ask him to stop pretending to punch the person he was with, because there were concerns that it would be viewed as a real fight on CCTV cameras or by members of the public.

This, the court heard, could have resulted in someone dialing 999 for an incident which didn't actually require police attendance. 

After the police officer had spoken to Luffman, he was seen to start play fighting once again just ten minutes later. He was pretending to throw punches and putting the other person in a headlock.

This time, another police officer approached to ask them to stop, but as he was walking toward them, the two young men started to run past the officer, so he grabbed Luffman and pulled him to the side of the road.

Pictured: The defendant pleaded guilty to all three counts he was facing when he appeared in court. 

Crown Advocate Rory Calderwood told Judge Graeme McKerrell how Luffman then lost his temper because of how he felt he was being treated with 'excessive force'. After the officer once again asked him to stop pretending to fight, and explained why, someone came to walk Luffman away, at which point he swore at the police officer. The defendant was told not to swear again if he didn't want to be arrested, and that this was his final warning. 

Reportedly, Luffman made eye contact with the officer and swore again. The court heard how the 21-year-old made his arrest very difficult by refusing to move his arms. It took five officers to properly detain him.

A doctor's report presenting by Advocate David Domaille on Luffman's behalf showed how his client had his ligament torn in the incident. 

Pictured: Luffman missed a scheduled court hearing on 5 August. 

Luffman was meant to appear in court to be dealt with on 5 August, having been bailed on 19 July, but he never arrived. He phoned the police station soon after his scheduled hearing to explain that he had accidentally over slept, and to say he would hand himself in.  

Judge McKerrell said it was good that the defendant had not tried to hide and came clean about missing his appointed court time, but he said over sleeping was no real excuse. 

He also questioned why Luffman had been acting more like a 12-year-old than a man of 21. 

Overall, he was fined £300 for disorderly conduct, £400 for resisting arrest, and £300 for missing his court date. 

Pictured top: The Lower Pollet, where the incident took place.