A former Lincolnshire Police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct over a “road rage” incident in which he punched and stamped on a motorist.
Former Inspector John Mellor was previously found not guilty of common assault in court.
He stated that he was pulled over by an erratic driver on the A46 near Lincoln and had to use force in self-defence.
However, a misconduct panel found that Mr Mellor escalated the situation and was unnecessarily violent.
The former officer, now retired, was found to have breached professional standards for force, discreditable conduct, respect, and courtesy.
He would have been dismissed if he were still serving as a police officer.
Motorist Shane Price says he was left “mentally traumatised” with a bruised face and pain in his already-injured foot.
A misconduct hearing was held at Bishop Grosseteste University on Tuesday, 7 January, and Wednesday, 8 January.
A video of the incident in 2021 shows Mr Price gesturing for Mr Mellor to pull over while travelling on the A46.
They stop on a slip road, where the driver angrily accuses the former officer of taking a picture of him while at the wheel, which Mr Mellor denied.
Barely a minute after they pull over, the situation escalates, and the inspector uses force to push him onto the floor.
He punches him once around the face and then stamps on the foot Mr Price had told him was injured.
He can be heard saying: “Stay where you f****** are.”
Jennifer Ferrario, the chair of the panel, told Mr Mellor: “You could have walked away numerous times.”
The panel rejected his claims of self-defence and stated that the use of force “could easily have been avoided”, adding that the public would be “appalled” to learn of it.
“There was no cause for the punch,” and the stamp on Price’s injured foot “was particularly serious,” they found.
Liz Briggs, counsel for Lincolnshire Police, said Mr Price was calm, while the officer was the aggressor.
“At no stage did he place himself in danger or threaten the officer, and didn’t deserve to be treated in this way,” she said.
Mr Mellor responded: “Three and a half years later, having seen this video hundreds of times, I still believe he was aggressive.”
He told the panel he was worried about Mr Price stepping into the dual carriageway and pushed him away from the road.
He said it was the first time in his 30-year career that he pressed his emergency button, saying: “I realised that if he kicked off, I might struggle to control him.”
He defended swearing twice at the man, saying: “I had to get a message through to him right then.”
Mr Hunter Gray, representing the officer, described it as a “road rage” incident and questioned whether the couple were “looking for trouble” when they asked the officer to pull over.
Mr Price and his wife, who took the video, didn’t appear at the hearing.
Lincolnshire Police had issued a statement after Mr Mellor’s trial in 2022, saying he wouldn’t face disciplinary proceedings.
However, Mr Price appealed, and the IOPC watchdog instructed the force to take action.