Teenager justified in swearing at police, mother says - Telegraph
Denzel Cassius Harvey was cleared of a public order offence after a judge ruled swearing at police is not a crime because they hear four letter words “too frequently” to be offended.
Defending her son’s legal challenge, which cost taxpayers tens of thousands of pounds, Lilious Cassius claimed the 19-year-old only used the F word because officers had unfairly targeted him in a drugs search.
Mr Cassius Harvey was arrested after unleashing an expletive-laden tirade at police who searched him for cannabis outside his home in Hackney, east London.
Mrs Cassius, 49, said the incident happened the day he was discharged from hospital after two weeks’ surgery for a shotgun wound to the face which left him blind in one eye.
The mother-of-two told the Daily Telegraph: “They were local police, they knew what had happened to his face and he was in terrible pain.
“But when they searched him they put him in a headlock and sprayed CS gas in his face.
“I brought my children up properly and taught them not to swear, unless there is a very good reason to.
“But you cannot blame my son for swearing when police do something like that for no good reason.
“The police tell us to F off all the time, so they can’t expect to be able to take people to court when they do the same back.
“They’re saying we have to respect them but they don’t have to respect us. It has to work both ways.”
Mr Cassius Harvey appealed against his conviction at the High Court after he was fined £50 for the offence in March last year.
The court heard that the trainee mechanic had objected to the search, telling police: “---- this man. I ain't been smoking nothing.”
When the search revealed no drugs, he continued: "Told you, you wouldn't find ---- all.”
Overturning the conviction last week, Mr Justice Bean said officers were so regularly on the receiving end of the "rather commonplace" expletive that it was unlikely to have caused them "harassment, alarm or distress".
Experts last night estimated that the challenge would have cost taxpayers around £30,000 in legal aid.
Police unions warned that the ruling would erode respect for the police and lead to more officers being verbally abused.
Mrs Cassius defended her son’s appeal saying that without legal aid, justice would be beyond the reaches of poor people.
The house wife added: “I’m very pleased with the outcome. Hopefully the ruling will help others who find themselves in similar situations in the future.
“Denzel will be really pleased when he hears because he was really quite upset about the conviction,” she said.
“He really thought the police were taking the ---- when they nicked him for swearing at them.”
Teenager justified in swearing at police, mother says
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