Devon PC on trial accused of false assault claim
- Published
PC Lucy Clark is alleged to have perverted the course of justice
A police officer arrested a woman for assault despite officers being unable to find CCTV evidence that it took place, a court heard.
PC Lucy Clark said she arrested Shniece McMenamin on 9 May 2016 for pulling her arm three times during an incident in Union Street, Plymouth.
Other police officers checked CCTV the next day but could not see the attack, Exeter Crown Court was told.
PC Clark, 30, denies perverting the course of justice.
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Miss Virginia Cornwall, prosecuting, said the CCTV showed Ms McMenamin seeking to "intervene to move others away" and "trying to act as a peacemaker".
"But for that CCTV there is every chance that Shniece McMenamin would have been prosecuted for an offence she did not commit, one of assaulting a police officer.
"You may think the word of a police officer carries considerable weight," she said.
A man who was out with Ms McMenamin and her brother had already been arrested and was handcuffed on the ground when PC Clark, of Devon and Cornwall Police, arrived.
The court heard how PC Clark arrested Ms McMenamin soon after, and later told the custody sergeant at Charles Cross police station in Plymouth that she had been assaulted.
She repeated her allegations in a crime report and a signed statement of evidence, jurors were told.
The trial continues.