Humberside Police One Punch campaign

Yorkshire Post

22/01/2024

Transcript

00:00 (ominous music)

00:02 (ominous music)

00:05 (ominous music)

00:07 (siren blaring)

00:25 (siren blaring)

00:28 - It's probably a misconception

00:42 that people think you need an excessive use of force

00:44 to actually be able to kill someone.

00:46 That's just not the case.

00:47 These aren't sustained attacks we're talking about here.

00:49 We're talking about one single momentary loss of,

00:53 loss of control, loss of temper, and one punch.

00:56 My name's Alan Curtis.

01:03 I'm a detective superintendent

01:04 in the major crime team in Humberside Police.

01:07 So all the circumstances in all these different scenes

01:09 are unique, all the victims involved are all unique,

01:12 but if we were talking in general terms

01:14 around one punch manslaughterers,

01:16 what we're normally talking about are two men

01:20 outside a pub, club, or bar

01:22 who have generally had a drink,

01:24 who have got into a spontaneous argument with each other,

01:27 and one of the men punches the other man,

01:30 who has then been rendered unconscious

01:32 and had an accelerated fall to the floor

01:35 onto a hard surface such as concrete, a curb,

01:39 sort of anything unyielding on the bottom,

01:41 which has caused this catastrophic head injury,

01:44 which generally is what these men die of.

01:47 Dealing with these types of incidents,

01:49 we get to know the families.

01:50 It's always a tragic situation,

01:52 and it's just massively difficult for them,

01:54 not just in the initial instant itself

01:58 and what happens in the initial aftermath

02:00 and the shock of that,

02:01 but invariably there's a court process at the end,

02:03 and that can be up to sort of 12 months,

02:06 maybe longer in some cases.

02:08 So what you might have is people that have gone out

02:11 drinking with their family members.

02:13 They might be witnesses to these incidents.

02:15 They might be there and present

02:16 when the person's being assaulted.

02:18 They might be with them in the ambulance.

02:20 They might be up at hospital.

02:22 We might have family that might have absolutely no idea

02:25 whatsoever that their loved one's being assaulted

02:28 and they're in either a critical condition

02:30 or that they're in fact deceased.

02:32 - My name's Stephen A. Kester.

02:35 Scott was my son.

02:36 Yeah, Scott was a very popular lad.

02:44 He had a wide selection of friends.

02:48 He liked his boxing, any sort of sports and all that lot.

02:51 He was a family man.

02:52 I had a real good relationship with him.

02:54 We used to speak every other day on the telephone with him.

02:57 - My name's Debbie A. Kester and I was Scott's mum.

03:00 Growing up, Scott was quite a shy boy.

03:02 He had lots of friends at school,

03:04 but he was quite shy as a person

03:08 and it seemed to come out of his shell

03:09 as he got into his teenage years

03:12 and he just loved spending time with his family as well,

03:15 with Ella, his four-year-old daughter.

03:18 - I'm Naomi Allen and Scott A. Kester was my partner.

03:21 Yeah, Scott, he was funny.

03:26 He was my best friend.

03:28 So when we had Ella, it'd become me, Scott and Ella.

03:33 We was like a little team.

03:35 - And Ella was staying over.

03:39 It was a Friday night and was all in bed.

03:42 It was about one o'clock in the morning.

03:45 I could hear a telephone ringing

03:46 and it was the police trying to get a hold of us

03:49 and to let us know that he'd been in a serious altercation.

03:52 - So obviously my mind started racing what had happened

03:56 and everything like that.

03:58 And then I knew something was wrong

04:00 because the police car turned up from Withernsea,

04:03 which isn't far from us, in a matter of minutes.

04:06 And then he was taken me to the hospital

04:07 on his blues and twos.

04:09 We was going some, you know, 80, 90 mile.

04:13 I was flying down and I thought, I started thinking to myself,

04:16 something's not right here.

04:17 I thought maybe a little fight or he fell over or something.

04:19 So I started to panic a bit then.

04:20 I arrived at the hospital.

04:22 Naomi's partner was already there.

04:24 And I was met by another,

04:26 I think it was a detective if I remember.

04:28 And they took me through and Scott was all wired up

04:30 and all that lot.

04:31 And then soon as I saw him, I knew something wasn't right.

04:34 The police officer I spoke to, he says,

04:36 "It's serious, Steve, you know, be prepared."

04:39 I said, "Well, just be straight with me."

04:40 And he was.

04:41 And he said, "I think it's serious, Steve.

04:43 "He's not gonna pull out of this."

04:45 And then I went through and when I saw him,

04:46 he was all tubed up and monitors on him and that.

04:50 And he just didn't look like Scott.

04:52 He was just like a shell.

04:54 And it was heartbreaking really when I saw it.

04:56 - And when Steve went with the police officer,

05:01 obviously I was left alone thinking what was happening.

05:03 I didn't know what was going on.

05:05 And then about an hour later,

05:07 I got a call from the consultant at the hospital

05:10 saying that Scott was really poorly.

05:13 They was doing further tests,

05:14 but he was in a serious condition.

05:16 Yeah, and it was just horrendous.

05:20 It was the worst night of my life.

05:22 I just can't describe how I felt.

05:23 - And they told us that there was no,

05:27 like, reaction to any of the tests.

05:32 I think that's sort of when it all

05:34 just goes into a blur for me.

05:36 The police knocked on my door.

05:39 And originally I thought Scott had left his keys.

05:44 I remember thinking it won't be that bad.

05:49 It's Scott.

05:49 He was a big lad.

05:54 He was like my security, so something like that

05:59 couldn't happen to him.

06:03 That's what I was thinking.

06:05 - It hit me like a ton of bricks.

06:07 I was scared.

06:09 I started panicking about Ella, his daughter.

06:12 We said, "There's nothing we can do.

06:14 "It's just the way he fell.

06:16 "There's no way back for him.

06:17 "You're gonna have to make a decision eventually.

06:22 "Obviously say your goodbyes.

06:23 "You're gonna have to give us the okay

06:25 "when it's ready for you."

06:26 When you actually look at that,

06:29 there's something inside you just leaves you.

06:31 It's like, it's something missing.

06:33 He was my only son.

06:35 To think that we went into hospital

06:38 and Scott was still alive.

06:39 He was 31 years old.

06:41 He had a young family.

06:42 And to leave the hospital basically with a memory box.

06:49 It was awful.

06:51 - So on the car ride to my mum's,

06:57 that's all I could think about.

06:59 Told her that her, that daddy had got poorly

07:04 and that he'd gone to heaven.

07:06 - The devastation he left behind,

07:11 such as my granddaughter.

07:13 I mean, any time we're birthed,

07:17 I take her to the cemetery.

07:18 She should be with her dad.

07:21 You know what I mean?

07:21 And it's heartbreaking.

07:24 (somber music)

07:26 - I used to ring him every hour

07:37 just to see where he was and what he was doing.

07:41 Then about 10 o'clock he was,

07:44 "I'm getting a taxi.

07:46 "I'm coming home or I'm getting a bus.

07:49 "If he's getting a bus, then I should go and meet him."

07:52 (somber music)

07:55 - William Davis, I'm Gareth's father.

07:59 - William Davis, Gareth's brother.

08:04 - Well, he used to say, "He's just a jackal giant.

08:07 "He'd do it for anybody."

08:09 I mean, if somebody went,

08:10 and especially a stranger went to him and said,

08:13 "I got a pound or two."

08:16 He'd just give 'em it.

08:16 - Well, he was quiet most of the time,

08:19 unless it was with people he knew.

08:22 - Anyone stopped talking.

08:23 - From five o'clock, when football left,

08:27 I never stopped ringing him for every hour.

08:29 And he answered me twice.

08:32 One at seven o'clock, telling me where he was.

08:35 One at nine o'clock.

08:37 He said, "I don't know what I'm doing, Dad.

08:40 "But I'll let you know."

08:41 And that was it.

08:42 10 o'clock I rung, 11 o'clock I rung, 12 o'clock, that.

08:47 And that happens from one in the morning.

08:51 The police, well, I got a telephone call.

08:54 And they said, "You better get through real quick."

08:57 But when I got there,

08:59 the two police officers was there.

09:02 They said, "It's bad.

09:04 "But before you go in, see him, it's bad."

09:09 And what was it, a week after?

09:11 He called me in.

09:14 - Yeah.

09:15 - And said, "We're,"

09:16 he said, "We're selling the machine off."

09:19 We had to go.

09:21 And the doctors changed the mounds.

09:23 They said, "No, we might be able to help him."

09:25 - One of the nurses saw his fingers moving.

09:28 (somber music)

09:32 (birds chirping)

09:35 - That arm's dead.

09:50 It's, you can't move it.

09:53 I mean, all the time I was in Tassel Hill.

09:57 They'd use this one, but they won't move that.

09:59 And it's just like that.

10:01 But while I've been here, I've been,

10:03 I've always done it all, done it myself.

10:07 But every time I crossed that, it would fart.

10:11 And he, "Oh, it hurts."

10:14 I said, "It will hurt."

10:16 I said, "You haven't done nothing with it, Gareth."

10:19 I said, "It will hurt."

10:20 But I don't start with, I did fart.

10:23 And I used to scream in my hand, there was nothing.

10:26 No.

10:28 And then I'd say, the next day I went and I did 10.

10:31 And the same thing, squeeze me hand, no.

10:34 Then the next day I did 15.

10:35 Now I'm doing 45, 50.

10:38 And he's still squeezing me hand and I can feel it.

10:42 And I think he can come home.

10:43 Well, he's not coming home.

10:46 I keep saying, "This is your arm, no."

10:50 But no.

10:51 It's that, half of me,

10:54 half of his mother.

10:59 But I've got that on top of me, no.

11:02 - Your mother won't even go out.

11:07 - No.

11:08 - She's got it in her head, sometime he's gonna come home.

11:12 We have to keep telling her.

11:14 That's it, he won't be coming home.

11:16 Sometimes she still won't believe it in her own head.

11:21 We just have to keep trying.

11:26 - I go every day.

11:29 I mean, I cry every day.

11:33 Now that he's gone.

11:37 - Well done.

11:40 - We're all parents and all humans at the end of the day.

11:51 And it's quite difficult to see them going through this.

11:54 So the strength that they show,

11:57 really is kind of testament to how they are as people.

12:00 These are regular people that are just involved.

12:03 People might think, "Oh, it's youths going out

12:08 "and it's kids fighting and it's kind of in that space."

12:11 When actually it's really not.

12:13 It's generally just normal people that are out drinking

12:17 that then have these arguments and confrontations

12:19 over something so silly, so insignificant and so innocuous.

12:23 And that one decision has then just changed

12:26 everyone's lives.

12:27 So if you are heading out this Christmas,

12:33 by all means, enjoy yourself.

12:35 But if you are getting involved

12:36 in a confrontational situation, stop, think and walk away.

12:40 'Cause you could be saving your own and someone else's life.

12:44 - How it happens, whoever started it,

12:48 try and ignore them and walk away.

12:51 - All I can say is, don't let this happen to you.

12:55 If you get into a position where you feel intimidated

12:58 or anything like that, just walk away.

13:01 At least you're there the next day.

13:03 Don't go through what we've been through.

13:05 - Stop and think and walk away and think about our story.

13:09 If it can happen to Scott, it can happen to anybody.

13:12 - It's just going to ruin a lot of people's lives

13:16 if it comes to a devastating conclusion like Scott's story.

13:22 (dramatic music)

13:25 (dramatic music)

13:27 (dramatic music)

13:30 (upbeat music)

Humberside Police One Punch campaign

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