Police officer drunkenly attacked man while pretending to have Taser

Telegraph

09-05-2025

A police officer who drunkenly attacked a man while pretending to be armed with a Taser has been sacked.
PC Lee Ribera repeatedly shouted 'police' and 'Taser' as he adopted the stance taken to use the device.
The off-duty Norfolk Police officer had been out drinking after being 'elated' at completing a three-day Taser course when he launched the unprovoked attack.
He pushed and hit the man, before being knocked out unconscious himself after retaliation from his victim.
After admitting gross misconduct at a disciplinary hearing, he was dismissed without notice.
The officer, who joined the force in April 2022, was said to have been 'heavily intoxicated' after attending a Wetherspoon pub in Norwich in September last year.
PC Ribera was then asked to leave a cinema in a shopping centre after getting into an argument with staff before shouting 'police officer with a Taser' with his hands outstretched in front of him. He then shouted 'police' and 'Taser' at a member of the public walking past.
The misconduct report said he then grabbed a passing man and pushed him backwards still pretending to be holding a Taser.
PC Ribera was said to have shouted about 'police' and 'Taser'. The man asked the officer to leave him alone and 'assumed a non-combative position'.
The two exchanged blows, leading to the police officer being knocked out unconscious.
'Discredited the police service'
He told the panel he was 'eternally sorry' for his conduct, for which he had 'deep regret and embarrassment'.
PC Ribera admitted he had no recollection of the incident and had gone out because he was 'so elated' at passing his taser course.
Norfolk assistant chief constable Nicholas Davison, who chaired the misconduct panel, said his off-duty antics had 'discredited the police service and undermined public confidence in it'.
He added a member of the public would be 'shocked and horrified' at his behaviour which would have a 'profound harmful impact on the public confidence and reputation in policing'.
'You cannot go out, whilst off duty, and behave in this way and end up using physical force and assault a member of the public going about their normal day,' he said.
He ruled the 'only available outcome' was dismissal without notice, as PC Ribera's conduct had been 'completely incompatible' with serving as a police officer.