Man who was punched and stamped on by former Lincolnshire Police inspector during incident on A46 between Newark and Lincoln given £100,000 compensation
A man who was punched and stamped on by a Lincolnshire Police officer has received £100,000 in compensation.
Former Inspector John Mellor punched Shane Price in the face, pushed him to the floor and stamped on his injured foot.
The encounter by the A46 was captured on camera by Price’s wife in 2021.
Although Mellor was cleared in court, a misconduct panel in January found he was unnecessarily violent and would have been sacked if he’d still been a police officer.
Price, who told the panel that he had been left in pain and “mentally traumatised”, has received £100,000 compensation plus legal costs, the force has confirmed.
Lincolnshire Police initially said the officer wouldn’t face disciplinary action after being found not guilty of common assault in court. However the Independent Office of Police Conduct watchdog ordered it to take action.
Footage of the incident shows Price gesturing for Mellor, both of whom were driving at the time, to pull over.
Price accuses the officer of taking a picture of him while behind the wheel, and less than a minute later he is pushed to the floor.
The former inspector can be seen punching him in the face and stamping on the foot that Price had told him was injured.
The panel rejected claims of self-defence, and said the public would be “appalled” to learn of the incident.
“There was no cause for the punch” and the stamp on Price’s injured foot “was particularly serious”, they found.
It dismissed Mellor’s claims that the motorist was aggressive towards him or that he was trying to protect him from stepping into the dual carriageway.
The former officer, who is now retired, was found to have breached professional standards of force, discreditable conduct, respect and courtesy.
Jennifer Ferrario, the chair of the panel, told Mellor: “You could have walked away numerous times.”
Mellor claimed at the hearing: “Three and a half years later, having seen this video hundreds of times, I still believe he was aggressive.”
Lincolnshire Police declined to make any further statement.