PC hurt after Sunderland man threw mobile phone charger out of window

David Chapman, 50, hurled it without looking from the window of his first-floor flat in Hudson Street, Hendon.

Standing below at 7.10pm on Wednesday, June 9, was a PC investigating an alleged attack on a woman, magistrates in South Tyneside heard.

The force of the blow to his head sent the officer tumbling bloodied to the ground, and with blurred vision.

Prosecutor Iain Jordan said the officer was tended to by colleagues and taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Police who raided Chapman’s home then found a two-plant cannabis farm.

Chapman pleaded guilty to the actual bodily harm assault and production of cannabis and was jailed 20 weeks, suspended for 18 months.

Mr Jordan said: “Officers attended Hudson Street after a report a female had been assaulted with a piece of glass.

“An officer was standing outside a house when he saw the defendant come outside with computer equipment.

“He asked him what he was doing but the defendant swore at him and went back inside.

“The officer was then standing with two colleagues when he felt a blow to the top of his head which knocked him to the ground.

“He had been struck by a phone charger that appeared to have been thrown out of a window of a property.

“The defendant was the only person inside. When officers searched his property, they found a cannabis farm.”

“Under caution, he said he didn’t know the policeman was there. He accepted that his actions were reckless.”

Joanne Gatens, defending, said Chapman had intervened to stop a friend attacking a woman, both of whom had been staying at his flat.

He became angry when the man turned on him, and he began discarding his property.

She added: “He had consumed a lot of alcohol and he accepts he threw the item out the window, not knowing the officer was there.”

District Judge Paul Currer also ordered Chapman to undertake 25 days of rehabilitation work and a 12-month alcohol treatment programme.

He must pay the officer £150 compensation. There were no court costs.