Latest news with #TimothyJohnTrautsch
The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Two NSW police officers punched and kicked schizophrenic woman ‘out of frustration'
Two former police officers punched, kicked and pepper-sprayed a naked schizophrenic woman were not 'bad men' but were acting out of frustration, a judge has heard. Nathan Black, 28, and Timothy John Trautsch, 30, were conducting a welfare check on a naked 48-year-old woman in an industrial cul-de-sac in western Sydney on 22 January 2023. They have pleaded guilty to assault and the unlawful use of their pepper spray after bodyworn video and CCTV captured them punching, kicking and spraying the woman in the face and on wounds on her back. On Tuesday, their barrister, Chris Micali, admitted at Penrith district court that the attack had gone further than necessary. However, he denied allegations by crown prosecutor, Nicholas Marney, that the duo were motivated by gratuitous cruelty. 'It's born out of a frustration and a lack of success,' Micali said. The woman had been lashing out at the police officers and being verbally aggressive. Black and Trautsch had been 'hyper-focused' on getting her into the waiting ambulance and made a grave misjudgment, Micali told Judge Graham Turnbull. 'I don't say these are bad men. What I'm saying is these are men who've done a bad thing,' the barrister said. The judge noted that their conduct had actually inflamed the woman, making her more agitated. 'Why didn't they just give up and let her calm down for a moment?' the judge asked. 'That's what they should have done,' Mr Micali answered. The defence barrister also denied claims that the woman did not pose a threat to the two police officers. In footage shown to the court, she grabbed the handcuffs leading to Black dragging her along the road by her hair. He did this to try get the handcuffs out of her grasp, Micali said. Black was later diagnosed with a liver condition after being defecated on by the woman while Trautsch had his finger bitten during the incident, the court heard. Earlier on Tuesday, Marney said spraying the woman's open wounds with pepper spray was 'gratuitously cruel'. Some of the spray also got onto her vagina, the court heard. The victim was 'dehumanised' in the attack and should have been shown common decency and compassion, Marney said. The pair knew what they were doing was wrong with Trautsch saying at one point there could be cameras nearby, Marney said. The woman was also charged with assault after the incident. These charges were dropped when Black's bodyworn footage was viewed by other police officers. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. The sentence hearing continues on Wednesday.
Sydney Morning Herald
3 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
NSW Police: Don't forget the many good among the bad and shameful
The unforgettable footage of NSW Police Inspector Amy Scott running towards danger that April Saturday afternoon last year at Bondi Junction is a reminder of the 'Sacred Trust' that encapsulates the high standards of conduct and ethical responsibility expected of the NSW Police Force. And at those moments of bereavement, injury, natural disaster and personal terror, many of us have experienced that trust first-hand, as police restore order and calm, help the human spirit endure and give meaning to life even amid death, horror and personal loss. And then there are Timothy John Trautsch and Nathan Black. The two former NSW Police officers assaulted, kicked, stomped on and capsicum-sprayed a naked, mentally unwell woman in a Western Sydney street before one of them sent body-worn camera clips to a colleague. The woman suffered from schizophrenia and had been released hours earlier from the nearby Amber Laurel women's prison in January 2023. The pair have pleaded guilty to violently assaulting her, and details of their brutal attack only became public after the Herald and other news outlets launched a legal bid to reveal their misconduct. Police claimed body-worn and CCTV footage should be suppressed for 60 years to protect the woman from further trauma. They left the force, but their behaviour only adds to the shadow that has fallen over NSW Police of late, courtesy of the actions of serving officers. Kristian White, a former police officer responsible for the taser death of 95-year-old Clare Nowland at a Cooma aged-care facility in May 2023, was found guilty of manslaughter by a NSW Supreme Court jury last November and sentenced to a two-year community correction order. Former officer Beau Lamarre-Condon has spent more than a year in prison awaiting trial after allegedly using his service-issued Glock pistol to shoot former partner Jesse Baird, a television presenter with whom he had allegedly become fixated, and Qantas flight attendant Luke Davies, inside a Paddington terrace in February 2024. And former senior constable Jonathan Charles Bettles admitted to repeatedly assaulting his former partner and pleaded guilty to 14 charges, including five counts of common assault, six of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, two of destroying or damaging property and one of perverting the course of justice. Police often get bad press that can erode public trust and undermine the legitimacy of the force. Occasional headlines about death by Taser or police corrupt behaviour underscore the regrettable reality that members of the NSW Police serve the public within a paradox – a community that at times condemns them yet needs them in its most desperate hour.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Judge's furious blast at the thug cops who stomped on the face of a naked woman and PEPPER-SPRAYED her genitals before sharing vile video of the brutal attack: 'Gratuitous cruelty'
Two cops who kicked and stomped on a naked woman and pepper-sprayed her genitals now face up to 12 years in jail after a judge blasted their 'gratuitious' violence. Nathan Black and Timothy John Trautsch pleaded guilty to assaulting the mentally ill woman during an arrest on January 22, 2023, then sent body-worn footage to a colleague, bragging: 'We caved her.' Judge Graham Turnbull told Penrith District Court that the act of pepper-spraying the woman's was 'gratuitous cruelty'. 'I struggle with what the possible reason was, beyond the intention to inflict gratuitous pain,' he told a sentencing hearing on Tuesday. The men launched the savage 18-minute assault after the woman was found nude and bathing in a puddle in an Emu Plains street in Sydney's west. The victim - who cannot be named for legal reasons - had earlier been released from the nearby Amber Laurel Women's Correctional Centre. She had walked 300m to Smith Street, an industrial cul-de-sac lined with smash repair and auto shops, where she stripped naked, triggering the welfare check call to police. The court heard the woman, 48, had been given antipsychotic medication for her schizophrenia but had not taken it. Trautsch, then 27, and Black, then 26, attended the scene and attempted to get her into an ambulance to go to hospital, prior to the violent assault At one point, sitting naked on a grassy footpath, the woman told the officers: 'If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed.' After trying to handcuff the woman, she resisted by grabbing the cuffs and the officers responded with rapidly-escalating violence. The footage of what happened next is so confronting, NSW Police tried to get it suppressed for 60 years, purportedly to protect the woman from further trauma. But Judge Turnbull agreed to play the video, taken from body-worn cameras and CCTV, at their sentence hearing. The footage showed the woman being pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged by her hair, and punched while she sobbed and screamed at the men. 'God, make me strong. God, make me strong,' she said over and over. 'God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God.' The two officers struggled to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms, while spraying her six times with pepper spray. The woman was sprayed twice in the face, once on her back - already grazed from the rough road surface - and once on her genitals. At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and onto Nathan Black's leg. 'Wash your dirty stinky a***,' one of the officers was then heard saying. They discussed using a Taser and a long baton, with Trautsch visibly laughing. Black messaged a colleague about how they emptied two cans of pepper spray at the woman, boasting that 'the whole body-worn is so good, shows her being f***ed'. The woman died in unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. Judge Turnbull said one of the officers was 'gloating' about the footage. He said the pair had 'got to the stage where they are defecated on, a suggestion of bodily fluids, she is completely unable to recognise who they are. 'There's just the two of them. The circumstances got to that these two men just lost the plot.' Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney told the court that the two officers could simply have restrained the woman, noting she posed no threat to them, despite grabbing at the handcuffs. When the woman was eventually taken to Nepean Hospital, Black told medical staff, 'You have to do what you have to do.' The men were charged in March 2023 and suspended without pay. On Tuesday, the pair sat apart in the dock staring straight ahead, as Crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney replayed the disturbing footage of the young men physically and verbally abusing the stricken woman. In urging Judge Turnbull to give the men long sentences, Mr Marney said it was an 'abuse of powers'. Instead of helping a woman subject to a welfare check, they had assaulted and berated her,' he said. Black has pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. The men face a maximum of 14 years for the charge of using a prohibited weapon without a permit, with a minimum of five years, but are entitled to a ten per cent discount for pleading guilty two weeks before they were due to stand trial. Judge Turnbull said both the use of pepper spray on the 48-year-old woman's wound and her genitals appeared deliberate. 'I see things with my own eyes. The video had the potential to speak for itself. (There) seems to be to be a spray almost deliberately towards the vagina,' he said. The judge expressed mild surprise that following the incident the two officers – who have since left the police force – charged the woman with two counts of assault. 'I have to say after four decades of experience, it is not uncommon in tight spots for people to be charged, or should I say, it does happen to deflect attention. 'The person becomes not just a victim but a defendant.' Judge Turnbull said that the victim's 'presentation was … pretty fearsome. It evolved' and that the initial response of the police 'reflected straight out threats of harm, standing in the middle of the street like a bull, in her florid psychotic state'. But he said that the 'way she's being struck and sprayed would increase her agitation, the way she's kicking out'. His Honour asked the men's legal counsel: 'Why didn't they give up and let her calm down for a minute? 'Isn't it part of the irony by exercising her powers in this way she has come to harm?' Neither now serve as NSW Police officers in the wake of the attack. There was a suggestion by the defence that Black had suffered a liver condition after being defecated on by the woman, but no evidence was presented at court. It was previously revealed that Black had taken legal action to sue NSW Police over 'psychological injury' and trauma from his time on the force. However NSW Police barrister David Baran last year told a court Black's claim for workers' compensation would be opposed. 'We say this injury is suffered from this horrific assault,' he added. 'Psychological trauma is based on this assault. He did what no police officer should do.'
Daily Mail
10-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Two cops stomped on naked woman's head in a Sydney street before pepper-spraying her genitals…and videoed it
A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two police officers, a court has heard. Senior constable Nathan Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch made a welfare check on the 48-year-old schizophrenic woman in an industrial area at Emu Plains, in western Sydney on January 22, 2023. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - trying to get her into an ambulance and off to the hospital. 'If you touch me, you are f***ed and I mean f***ed. They're up there watching,' she told the two officers while sitting naked on a grassy curb. 'You don't know about the aliens, do you?' Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. The officers, who were in plain clothes, have admitted using unlawful force. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray, twice in the face and once on her back which was grazed after falling into the rough road surface. 'That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor,' crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told. The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. 'God, make me strong. God, make me strong,' she said over and over. 'God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God.' At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. 'Wash your dirty stinky arse,' one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Mr Marney said. 'It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation,' he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed with the two men able to contain her by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even as the woman grabbed for the handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Mr Marney said. In an horrific admission, Black told medical staff: 'You have to do what you have to do,' when the woman was later taken to Nepean Hospital. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. 'The whole body worn (footage) is so good shows her being f***ed,' he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for the NSW Police Force. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15.
The Guardian
10-07-2025
- The Guardian
Two NSW police officers attacked naked woman suffering mental health episode
A naked woman suffering a mental health episode was punched, kicked, dragged by her hair and pepper-sprayed by two New South Wales police officers who have admitted using unlawful force. Senior constable Nathan Black and constable Timothy John Trautsch were in plain clothes when they made a welfare check on a 48-year-old schizophrenic woman at Emu Plains on January 22, 2023. Court documents reveal the woman had been prescribed an antipsychotic but was not taking the medication at the time. Black, 28, and Trautsch, 30, first talked to the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - and tried to get her into an ambulance. Video footage played at a sentence hearing at Penrith District Court on Thursday shows the pair's violence escalating during an 18-minute assault against the woman. She was pushed onto the road, kicked twice in the head, dragged along by her hair and punched. At one stage, the two officers struggled trying to handcuff her on the ground as she lashed out with her arms. She was also sprayed six times with pepper spray – also known as OC spray – twice in the face and once on her back, which was grazed after she fell onto the road. 'That can be done for no other purpose than the infliction of pain, to spray OC onto a lady's back who has been at various stages dragged or fallen onto the floor,' crown prosecutor Nicholas Marney said. Some of the pepper spray got onto her genitals, the court was told. The woman's shrieks and sobs were full of expletives at the two officers. 'God, make me strong. God, make me strong,' she said over and over. 'God, please. I'm sorry I didn't listen. I'm sorry, God.' At one stage, the woman defecated on the road and on Black's leg. 'Wash your dirty stinky arse,' one of the officers was heard saying. The two men discussed using a Taser and long baton, while Trautsch was at one point seen laughing. The officers could have restrained the woman or just talked to her but instead chose violence, Marney said. 'It should never have got to that stage, they had an obligation,' he told Judge Graham Turnbull. There was no threat posed as the two men were able to contain the woman by pushing her onto the road, he argued. Even though the woman grabbed for handcuffs, this did not require kicking her in the head, Marney said. 'You have to do what you have to do,' Black told medical staff when the woman was taken to Nepean Hospital in western Sydney. Speaking to a psychologist who gave evidence to the court, Black and Trautsch both claimed they were experiencing long-standing mental health challenges at the time of the incident. Black pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm, using a prohibited weapon without a permit and three counts of common assault. He also admitted two counts of intentionally publishing protected information after sending snippets of the body-worn footage to another police officer. In a message exchange, he described how the pair had emptied two cans of pepper spray on the woman. 'The whole body worn [footage] is so good shows her being fucked,' he wrote. Trautsch pleaded guilty to one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three counts of common assault and one count of using a prohibited weapon without a permit. Both officers no longer work for NSW police. The woman died due to unrelated circumstances 18 months after the attack. The sentence hearing continues on July 15. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978. In the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat
