Hammer-swinging thug Tasered on Leeds street where shocked families were gathered
A thug had to be Tasered by police after trying to attack them with a large branch fashioned into a hammer as shocked families on a Leeds cul-de-sac looked on.
Mack Page was brought to the floor by the 50,000-volt device after ignoring requests to put down the weapon on Poplar Close in Bramley.
He had swung the branch, which was described as being shaped into a sledgehammer or large mallet, and struck the attending officers.
Page was given a hospital order at Leeds Crown Court this week, rather than a prison sentence, because of a severe mental illness preventing him from entering pleas.
The 38-year-old was found to have committed the act after a trial of fact - whereby a jury listens to the prosecution and defence counsel’s case, but the defendant does not participate in the trial and he cannot be found guilty or not guilty.
Prosecutor Celine Kart said police had been called to Poplar Close at around 2pm on August 13 last year to reports of a man acting strangely.
When they arrived on the street, where families and children were out, they saw Page emerge from behind a car holding the thick branch.
Ordered to drop it, he ignored the request and swung at the first officer, hitting them in the back. He then swung it at a female officer, striking her in the arm.
She then pulled out the Taser and warned him. But when he began to walk away, she discharged the stun gun, sending him to the floor.
Once he was detained, they found a knife in his waistband.
The jury found he had assaulted two emergency workers, and had an offensive weapon and a bladed article in public. He has one previous conviction for battery.
Page, of neighbouring Poplar Way, appeared in court for sentencing this week via video link from a secure hospital where he was being detained.
Mitigating, solicitor Theresa Clark said that Page had been since diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. She added: “He was clearly unwell at the time of the offences.
“He has little recollection of his appearance before the magistrates’ court.”
She said he has been medicated appropriately since then and has shown a “real degree of remorse and shame”.
She said he had been on anti-psychotic drugs previously, had stopped taking them, but now acknowledges he “very much needs medication”.
The judge, the Recorder of Leeds, Guy Kearl KC said there had been two doctors’ reports to support a hospital order.
Recorder Kearl gave Page the hospital order under section 37 - meaning he will be detained for at least six months for treatment, which could be extended if he is found unsuitable to be released back into the community.