A retired lecturer recently diagnosed with a terminal illness has complained of police heavy-handedness after claiming he was injured when six officers raided his home after he achieved his bucket-list desire to moon at a speed camera.
Darrell Meekcom, 55, from Kidderminister, who was diagnosed with multiple system atrophy (MSA) last month, pulled down his trousers and bared his bottom to a camera believing it was “a good laugh”, he told his local newspaper.
But within 20 minutes, he found six officers at his front door, banging on his window, and was restrained and arrested on suspicion of committing public order offences.
Meekcom, who reportedly formerly lectured medical students at Birmingham City University, said he had reported the incident to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. He claimed he suffered a blow to the head and officers damaged his front door and back gate, with the incident being videoed by his wife as he was taken into custody.
“There were six of them restraining me, trying to get their arms up my back,” Meekcom, a father of two young children and who also has Parkinson’s disease, told the Shuttle in Kidderminster.
In the video, which has appeared online, he is seen lying on the ground in his garden as police arrest him, saying: “I’ve just been diagnosed with multiple system atrophy. I’m terminally ill. It was one off my bucket list. Haven’t you ever wanted to moon at a speed camera?” As one officer replies “No”, he continues: “Well I did.”
“I felt like I had been abused. It was outrageous bullying. They could have killed me very easily,” he told the paper. He said he suffered blurred vision and a seizure and attended hospital after the incident.
West Mercia police said in a statement: ”Around 1pm on Friday 5 November officers received a report of indecent exposure on Stourbridge Road, Kidderminster. Officers attended and after a search of the area, located a person of interest … A 55-year-old man from Kidderminster was arrested on suspicion of public order offences and dangerous driving and released on bail.”
Enquiries are ongoing.
