No Jail For Spitting & Biting A Police Officer

Jail Reprieve For Man Who Bit Officer

From the Gold Coast Bulletin

A man who bit a police officer’s finger during a bucks night fight in Surfers Paradise received a three month suspended jail sentence yesterday.

Daniel Callan, 25, pleaded guilty to seriously assaulting the officer and being a public nuisance outside The Bedroom Nightclub on September 12 last year.

Magistrate Michael O’Driscoll condemned the Beenleigh carpenter’s behaviour as disgraceful and ‘definitely un-Australian’ before handing down a suspended sentence for the assault and a $400 fine for the public nuisance charge.

He ordered Callan to pay the officer $2,500 in compensation. Callan’s lawyer Adam Dwyer told the Southport Magistrates Court his client had been celebrating his brother-in-law’s bucks night and had a limited recollection of the incident because he had been intoxicated.

“He is totally embarrassed, totally ashamed of his actions,” said Mr Dwyer.

He said Callan, a father of one, was involved in a dispute with his brother-in-law outside the club about 10:50pm and was arrested.

Mr Dwyer said his client reacted violently by biting the officer’s left ring finger after an unknown person stepped on his injured foot during the arrest.