A WITNESS has told a court of hearing a “horrendous” noise as she watched a police officer punch a man in a Barrhead town centre street.

Jacqueline McNaughton said the punch was enough to send Sean McNeil over a fence and she described the sound she heard as his head cracked off the ground.

She was giving evidence at the trial of Constable Richard Hardcastle, who is said to have left Mr McNeil injured after attacking him in Cross Arthurlie Street on April 9, 2017.

PC Hardcastle, 25, denies assaulting Mr McNeil, who was a football coach with Arthurlie Juniors’ under-19 team at the time, and the trial resumed at Paisley Sheriff Court last week, having started in November.

Miss McNaughton, 57, told the court she had been at her sister’s house in Barrhead and was walking home when she saw a commotion.

She said: “All the police were all running down. They were running down at the back of the person that was put over the fence.

“The police officer punched the man and the man went right over the barrier.”
Miss McNaughton added: “It was the noise of the crack of his head, it was horrendous.”

Mr McNeil, who is 6ft 4ins tall and weighed 18st 2lbs at the time, was rushed to hospital after the incident.

He underwent a CT scan at Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital, his head wound was checked over and he was released some three hours later.
Also giving evidence last week was PC Lee Gibney, who has been a policeman for 22 years.

He told the court he trains officers on the use of force in the course of their duties, including the use of batons and pepper spray.

PC Gibney, 42, said officers should use “the minimum force necessary” at all times and should “try to maintain a reaction gap and de-escalate a situation.”

He explained that a reaction gap and not stepping towards a suspect is “safer for both officers and suspects, to try and stop people being assaulted.”

Previously, Mr McNeil told the court he had drank between six and eight pints of lager on the day in question and was “merry but definitely not drunk.”

He said a fight broke out at the Arthurlie Inns, which was captured on CCTV, and saw him being punched and someone aiming a headbutt at him.

Mr McNeil, 28, added that he then left the pub with his dad Michael and another man and spoke to police who arrived to investigate the disturbance.

He said that, while he was speaking to the officers, he was pushed over railings at the side of the pavement, leaving him sprawled on the road.

PC Hardcastle maintains his innocence and the trial, before Sheriff Hugh McGinty, was adjourned until later this month.

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