Safer to get hit by a car than have a run in with the NSW Police.
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Magistrate Jennifer Giles awarded Canberra Raiders centre Curtis Scott $100,792.30 in legal costs after she likened his treatment by police to "gratuitous violence off the dark web" in Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
It prompted Scott's lawyer Sam Macedone to hope NSW police commissioner Mick Fuller would reconsider his sympathy for a "couple of cowboys" who were giving 99.9 per cent of police officers a bad name.
Macedone said Scott was yet to decide whether to sue the police for a figure in excess of $100,000, but he felt the 22-year-old would.
Giles had been considering whether to award full legal costs to Scott after she'd thrown his case out, which included two counts of assaulting a police officer.
Graphic footage from the police's own body cameras showed Scott being handcuffed, woken up, pepper sprayed and then tasered after he'd fallen asleep under a fig tree in Moore Park near NRL headquarters.
He'd been celebrating Australia Day with teammates before losing his way home.
Giles was again scathing of the way Scott was treated when handing down her judgement on costs.
The NRL gave him a $15,000 suspended fine for his behaviour before falling asleep, which included throwing his phone at a passing car.
"I genuinely think Mr Scott might have been safer if he had wandered onto the roadway and been hit by a car," Giles said.
"He would at least have still had the free use of his hands, and being upright, would have got an ambulance much more quickly.
"He wouldn't have been blinded for 20 minutes, and wouldn't have been electrocuted (sic) while lying handcuffed on the ground.
"That is an absurd analogy, I know. But try to watch the body-cam footage without flinching. And try to remember you're not watching gratuitous violence off the dark web."
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Macedone said his client was stoked with the decision and said if they sued the police they would likely launch action before Christmas - although they can do so any time within the next six years.
He took aim at Fuller's comments during the week, where the police commissioner said he was sympathetic to the arresting officers because they couldn't leave him there in case he "committed more crimes".
"I would hope he might reconsider the sympathy that he has for these police officers - given what the magistrate has just said about them and the end result of all of this," Macedone said.
"This is not what we want to see from our police officers and unfortunately it detracts from the 99.9 per cent of police officers that do a fantastic job out there in the community - doing their job and putting their life on the line.
"We've got a lot of respect for them, but every now and then you get a couple of cowboys that just stuff it up for them."
- with AAP
NRL ROUND 20
Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at Kogarah Oval, 5.30pm.
Raiders squad: 1. Adam Cook 2. Semi Valemei 3. Matt Timoko 4. Harley Smith-Shields 5. Nick Cotric 6. Matt Frawley 7. Sam Williams (C) 8. Dunamis Lui 9. Tom Starling 10. Sia Soliola 11. Hudson Young 12. Corey Harawira-Naera 13. Siliva Havili. Interchange: 14. Kai O'Donnell 15. Ryan Sutton 16. Darby Medlyn 17. Jarrett Subloo. Reserves: 18. Ata Mariota 19. Joe Tapine 20. Jack Wighton 21. Elliott Whitehead.
Sharks squad: 1. Will Kennedy 2. Nene Macdonald 3. Mawene Hiroti 4. Jesse Ramien 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo 6. Wade Graham 7. Connor Tracey 8. Braden Hamlin-Uele 9. Blayke Brailey 10. Aaron Woods 11. Briton Nikora 12. Siosifa Talakai 13. Toby Rudolf. Interchange: 14. Scott Sorensen 15. Jack Williams 16. Andrew Fifita 17. Teig Wilton. Reserves: 8. Billy Magoulias 19. Braydon Trindall 20. Bryson Goodwin 21. Daniel Vasquez.