A man has been ordered to pay £1,000 compensation to a policeman he bit while under arrest.
Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday that officers were sent to Huddersfield town centre after a report of fighting on the evening of April 11 last year.
Ryan Lockwood was seen holding the collar of another man and punching him. That man then ran off but returned because it appeared his girlfriend and three-legged dog had stayed behind.
There was a further confrontation as Lockwood tried to kick the dog and missed, shouted threats at the man and chased him. He also picked up a full bottle of whisky and threw it towards him.
David Ward, prosecuting, said the bottle missed and smashed near a member of the public as the police arrived.
Lockwood was aggressive and resisted the officers when arrested and was violent, hitting the inside of the van as he was taken to the police station.
Once there he refused to get up off the ground when he was pulled out of the van and was eventually carried inside, trying to bite the officers.
At the custody desk he was held with his head down on the desk until he appeared to the custody sergeant to have calmed down.
She told the officers to release their grip and immediately he became violent again, kicking one officer before biting Pc Jonathan Eeles on his arm.
Mr Ward said the bite broke the skin and he had to be treated at hospital.
The court heard Lockwood, who works in the building trade, told a probation officer he had been drinking since mid-afternoon and reacted in the town centre to a racist comment made to his girlfriend.
He accepted what had happened was linked to his alcohol consumption and Anastasis Tassou representing him said he had already referred himself via his GP to On Track in Huddersfield.
Lockwood, 29 of Field Close, Six Lane End, Heckmondwike admitted affray, resisting arrest and assaulting Pc Eeles. He was given a total of 15 months in prison suspended for two years with 240 hours unpaid work in addition to the compensation.
Recorder Ray Singh told him “You chose to use your teeth as a weapon and caused injury to the officer’s arm.”
He said in addition to the immediate injury the officer would have had the anxious wait to see if he had caught any disease or infection.
“He doesn’t know your background or that you might have a disease that you pass on to him,” he added.
