A FORMER police sergeant allegedly laughed as a man who had been detained stripped off in his cell, fell over and hit his head.

Gareth Starr faces nine accusations of misconduct relating to the incident at Bridgwater Police Station on 17 February last year.

A misconduct hearing next Thursday (November 26) will be told his actions were a breach of the Standards of Professional Behaviour.

Starr is accused of:

  • making a derogatory comment to the detained person during the booking in process;
  • failing to visit and rouse the detained man every 30 minutes or having the prisoner assessed to determine whether he was rousable;
  • not organising clinical treatment for the man;
  • after the detained person stripped off, urinated on the floor, defecated on the cell door and stood in the waste, failed to remove him or seek advise on what action to take;
  • watching CCTV of the man slipping and falling several times, laughing at him and calling him derogatory names;
  • failing to challenge junior officer and other staff for also laughing at the detained person and making disparaging comments;
  • instructing the detention officer not to go to the cell after the detained man fell, hit his head and remained motionless for around ten seconds;
  • failing to inform a doctor that the man had hit his head and "actively discouraging" the doctor from attending the man;
  • during his handover to another sergeant, failing to inform that officer that the detained person had fallen and hit his head.

The hearing will be told: "His (Starr's) behaviour and language could reasonably be perceived to be abusive, oppressive, harassing, bullying, victimising or offensive by the public or his policing colleagues; further he failed to treat the detained person with courtesy and failed to carry out his role and responsibilities as custody sergeant in an efficient, diligent and professional manner."

Starr is accused of failing to carry out his duties and obligations to the best of his abilities and his actions are said to have brought discredit on the police force.