Wiltshire Police officer Daniel Rusling has been handed a suspended jail sentence after attacking a 13-year-old boy while responding to an incident in Chippenham in October last year
A Wiltshire Police officer has been handed a suspended jail sentence after attacking a 13-year-old boy while on duty.
PC Daniel Rusling, a response officer, previously admitted one count of assault by beating in relation to the incident, which happened in Chippenham on October 14 last year.
At Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, Rusling was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, suspended for 12 months, and ordered to complete unpaid work.
The assault took place outside Monkton Park police station in the early hours of October 14 after the boy, who was among a group of six children, called 999 for help, saying they had been threatened by people in a car.
Body-worn camera footage showed Rusling repeatedly swearing at the boy, who was wearing his school uniform, and aggressively pushing him several times. The child was not injured.
The case was investigated by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which is overseeing both the criminal proceedings and the misconduct investigation.
Wiltshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Mark Cooper said: “Firstly, I want to apologise directly to the victim in this case – a child who was simply asking us to help him.
“I also want to extend this to his family, all the other children involved and to our wider communities – you absolutely expect better from us and we let you down.
“The actions of Daniel Rusling that morning were criminal – he ignored his fundamental duty to protect a vulnerable person and, instead, used violence and vile language to intimidate and scare him.”
He said Rusling’s actions were “in no way” representative of Wiltshire Police or the vast majority of its officers, staff and volunteers, adding that the force would continue to “identify and remove” anyone displaying the same attitude.
“We will also continue to ensure we learn from such appalling matters and make our stance on them unequivocally clear to the rest of our organisation, our partners and our communities,” he said.
Rusling will now face an expedited gross misconduct hearing.
