Triflin' Twelve: Innocent Man Awarded £35,000 After Police Strip Him Naked And Pepper Spray Him In Front Of His Kids [Video]

Paul Ponting of Ormskirk, England has been paid £35,000 (45,355 USD) in damages after being pepper-sprayed in front of his children before being stripped naked, violated and intimately searched by police.

The Sun reports:

[On June 18 2014 at 10.30pm] Officers were scrambled to Mr Ponting’s home. Sgt Hayes and PC Ward came to tell him they would not be pursuing a case against a man Mr claimed had harassed him. Mr. Ponting admits becoming upset which led to a heated conversation. But suddenly he recalls Hayes spraying PAVA spray in his face with Ward wrestling him to the floor. The pair dragged him into a van as Mr Ponting’s two young kids watched from a window. Mr Ponting was left with cuts, bruises and a number of minor injuries following the struggle.

Ponting was later charged with assaulting the officer who arrested him and harassing another officer — but the charges were later dropped following the trial and he was granted his £35,000 in damages. He told reporters,

“People have this view of the police that they are always right and they are never wrong, and don’t get me wrong they do a great job in a lot of areas, but they’re not perfect and they can be pretty evil when they want.”

SMH. See the disturbing footage above.