A man who assaulted four police officers after they took him to hospital for medical treatment has been sentenced.
Police took Steven Unwin to the Queen’s Medical Centre on 12 January this year after they found him injured in Russell Drive, Wollaton – seemingly because he was heavily intoxicated and had fallen over.
While at the hospital, it emerged the 42-year-old was a wanted man in connection with a previous assault. Officers therefore arrested him and placed in handcuffs while they waited for a doctor to become available to assess Unwin’s injuries.
As they waited, Unwin asked to be uncuffed so that he could remove his coat. The officers obliged but when they went to put Unwin back in handcuffs he refused and became aggressive.
A struggle then broke out, during which Unwin assaulted the four officers by kicking them and swinging punches. One of the officers was also bitten on the arm.
The officers managed to get him back in handcuffs and a short time later he was assessed by a doctor, who found his injuries from his earlier fall were minor and so discharged him.
Unwin, of no fixed address, was taken into custody and charged with assaulting four police officers, along with the previous assault – which was on a prison guard at HMP Nottingham in 2021, where Unwin was serving a sentence for previous matters.
He was back at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday (5 July 2022) after pleading guilty to five counts of assaulting an emergency worker.
He was jailed for 15 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 40 rehabilitation activity days.
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Following the sentencing, PC Rebekah Jackson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “I’m very pleased Unwin has been dealt with by the courts.
“To assault a police officer, prison officer, or other emergency service worker should never be accepted as ‘part of the job’.
“As the force has repeatedly shown, we will not hesitate to prosecute those who put the safety of our 999 staff at risk in this way when they are working hard to do their job and serve the public.
“Anyone who commits such crimes should be left in no doubt that we take these cases extremely seriously and we will continue to take the strongest action possible against anyone who behaves in this way and put them before the courts at the earliest opportunity.”
