A Birmingham man has been left with a criminal record and a £452 bill after a drunken altercation led to him assaulting a police officer, a court heard.
Incident Details
Aaron Gerroni, 21, of Usk Way, Smiths Wood, became agitated when officers arrived at a row between friends in the early hours of July 1. By the time police attended, the argument had already finished and Gerroni was walking away, but he pushed, punched and kicked an officer as he resisted arrest.
Birmingham Magistrates' Court heard that Gerroni was injured himself as officers 'turned up on mass' and took him to the ground. He pleaded guilty to assaulting a constable in the execution of his duty on Tuesday, August 4.
Court Outcome
The Magistrates' Chair told Gerroni: "This will be the most expensive night out you will have. Not only because you now have a criminal record, but those punches and kicks have now cost you £452." The sum includes a £180 fine to be paid to the court.
Prosecuting, Ms Begum said: "On July 1 at approximately 3.18am, officers attended the address following an ongoing domestic incident. The defendant became involved in a heated argument with another individual. The defendant became agitated and pushed past the officer. He actively resisted arrest, kicking one of the officers. He was restrained."
The victim personal statement from the officer said: "The assault caused bruising to my left elbow, during the incident I was pushed, punched and kicked multiple times. The injuries were relatively minor but being subject to this level of violence is not something we should have to tolerate."
Mitigation and Background
Gerroni had no previous convictions and was described as a man of good character before the incident. Mr Haycock, mitigating, said: "You can see from his references that this is completely out of character. He has no health conditions, no addictions to alcohol or drugs. It was alcohol consumption that led to this incident. He does not use this as an excuse."
He added: "His mother and partner sit behind in the public gallery, he is ashamed of his behaviour because of the impact it has had on his mum and girlfriend. He had been at a friend's house, both of them had been drinking heavily for a number of hours. An argument broke out with one of the friends. That's the reason a third party caller called the police. By the time they attended the area, it had finished."
Mr Haycock explained that Gerroni had left the address and was walking away when police attended. "They spoke to him and other people within the group, other people in the group were not acting very well. He tells me that his girlfriend was having an interaction with the police officer so he was concerned. He made an attempt to get to his partner, the officer attempted to try and stop him moving towards those people. He accepts he moved his arm out towards the officer, striking his chest. It is out of character."
Gerroni, who is currently looking for work, was described as a 'good son and good round the house' by his mother, Mr Haycock added. "He was taken to the floor, not surprisingly because the police turned up on mass. His mother has a number of photographs of the proactive manner which they dealt with him and indeed, the cut you see on his forehead was as a result of this. He was the author of his own misfortune. He is not going to get into trouble again."
Police Warning
The Magistrates' Chair told Gerroni his case would be cited as a 'prime example' of assaults on officers in a talk later that day. He said: "At 4.30pm today I'm going to be speaking to 30 police officers about how firstly, they have great power, and with that comes great responsibility, and they are to use it well. The second part is that you may well get assaulted by members of the public - you are a prime example of that."
