Capsicum spray was used to try to subdue an East Lismore man who was arrested after refusing a roadside drug test then assaulting two police and trying to grab an officers pistol.
Geoffrey Lord was driving along Dalley St at East Lismore when he was pulled over for a random breath test on March 8.
The 45-year-old passed the random breath test, but when officers tried to get him to do a roadside drug test, things got heated.
‘I didn’t do it the other day and I’m not doing it now,’ Mr Lord said.
Police later discovered just two days before, when he was pulled over on Nielsen Street, East Lismore, Mr Lord also refused to do a roadside drug test.
A struggle ensued between Mr Lord and two male senior constables, with both officers receiving multiple kicks as he continued to thrash and attempted to grab an officer’s pistol until he was subdued.
When the senior constables attempted to put Mr Lord in the back of the police vehicle he again lashed out and attempted to grab one officers gun, and they fell to the ground resulting in lacerations to both a police officer and Mr Lord.
Once he was handcuffed in the back of the police vehicle, Mr Lord began yelling ‘f**k you c***s’ ‘I’ll kill you c**t’, and made a ‘gesture with his hands as though it were a gun and pointed it at police’, police facts said.
Mr Lord then jumped from the back seat into the front of the police vehicle and grabbed the gear stick and tried to put the vehicle in gear, while thrashing, kicking and still trying to grab the officers pistols.
Both officers sprayed Mr Lord, who was bleeding from cuts and lacerations, with capscium spray which they said had no effect.
‘I hope you c***s like getting my blood on you,’ he said.
He was taken to Lismore police station where he refused to be interviewed and again refused to provide an oral fluid sample for drug testing.
Mr Lord was charged with seven offences including assault police occasioning actual bodily harm, assault police, resist arrest, two counts of refusing to provide an oral fluid sample and destroying or damaging property, and granted conditional bail.
The court previously heard Mr Lord, who claimed he smoked 20 cones a day of cannabis and drank six standard drinks every second day, had been assessed as suitable for the MERIT Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment program.
On Monday, Mr Lord appeared in Lismore Local Court and was represented by solicitor Gary Hooper.
Magistrate David Heilpern confirmed he was pleading guilty to all charges and adjourned Mr Lord’s matters until July 24, for sentencing.
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