Cop who Tasered dementia sufferer, 92, posted lightning emoji joke about care homes hours after the incident

From the Newshound archive · first published 29 September 2026 · last updated 1 October 2026.

Bodycam footage of the moment PC Rachel Comotto deployed a Taser on Donald Burgess — whose colleague PC Stephen Smith told a disciplinary panel he would not have done anything differently.

PC Rachel Comotto, 37, posted a lightning emoji on Facebook hours after firing a 50,000-volt Taser at Donald Burgess, a 92-year-old amputee with dementia who was sitting in his wheelchair holding a dinner knife. Comotto replied 'We all know what happens in care homes' beneath a colleague's birthday post joking about care homes, adding the lightning symbol. Burgess died three weeks later after his condition deteriorated, and both officers face a gross misconduct hearing at Sussex Police HQ in Lewes.

Bodycam footage shown to the disciplinary panel captured Burgess screaming in pain as Taser barbs hit his chest during the June 2022 incident at Park Beck Care Home in St Leonards-on-Sea.

PC Stephen Smith, 52, told the hearing he 'wouldn't have done anything differently', despite footage showing him pepper-spraying and striking the 92-year-old with a baton before Comotto deployed the Taser.

Both officers were cleared of assault occasioning actual bodily harm at Southwark Crown Court in May 2025 but now face the separate misconduct proceedings.

The SunCop who Tasered tragic amputee, 92, 'posted taunt after being made butt of joke'The IndependentOfficer tasered man, 92, then joked about it on Facebook hours later LBC‘It doesn’t look good’: Taser policewoman admits joking about 92-year-old wheelchair user hours after incident BBC News - EnglandPCs 'mocked by colleagues' after man, 92, was Tasered

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