Officer found guilty of excessive force on ‘drunken prisoner’ in his cell

A police officer assaulted a prisoner in his cell just days after successfully being retested for “defensive techniques”. Police Constable Gary Dolan was captured on CCTV grappling with Stephen Young, who had put his hands through the hatch on his custody suite door. The footage showed the door being opened suddenly by PC Dolan, followed by Mr Young flying backwards and striking his head on the floor. He lay “moaning” while the officer and three colleagues walked away from the cell at Kilmarnock police station in Ayrshire. The prisoner was later taken with a serious head injury and given six stitches to a deep gash in his scalp. Sheriff Brian Murphy found PC Dolan guilty of assault to injure Mr Young in April 2015 and fined him £400. PC Mark Scott, an operational safety trainer, told Kilmarnock Sheriff Court that PC Dolan, who denied the charge, had re-qualified in the use of defensive techniques just days before the incident. Mr Young showed his arms but PC Dolan said the prisoner didn’t need a doctor, the court heard. “You’ve already been seen by the doctor,” PC Dolan added. PC Scott said an apparent twisting of Mr Young’s arm through the hatch by PC Dolan was not part of training and did not allow the prisoner to put his arm back inside. Shown footage of Mr Young bleeding from a head injury after apparently being pushed by the 48-year-old Police Scotland officer, PC Scott added: “I think that was excessive use of force.” Mr Young had been detained drunk at hospital and was on constant observations.