Brighton police officer cleared of assaulting prisoner

A Brighton police officer has been cleared of assaulting a man who was being held down on the floor by three colleagues.

PC Sebastian Day, 26, a response officer from Brighton, was found not guilty of common assault after a trial at Sevenoaks Magistrates’ Court in Kent.

PC Day kicked Adam Riley in the head in North Street, Brighton, near the taxi rank in East Street, and left the detained man with a large gash on his face close to his eye.

Mr Riley was being arrested for being drunk and disorderly in the early hours of Sunday 4 September last year.

The officer said that Mr Riley had assaulted him and presented further danger and that kicking him was the only option.

Although PC Day has been acquitted of assault he remains suspended by the force.

Sussex Police said in a statement: “His suspension will be reviewed and the case will be assessed as to whether standards of professional behaviour have been breached.”