Two Sussex officers sacked for excessive force on care home resident, 92
PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto were acquitted of assault in May 2025, but a disciplinary panel has found they breached standards on use of force.
Two Sussex Police officers have been dismissed without notice for gross misconduct after using excessive force, including a Taser, on a 92-year-old care home resident, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has said.
PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto will also be placed on the police barred list, following a disciplinary hearing that concluded on 6 October 2026.
A police disciplinary panel found that both officers breached the standards of professional behaviour on use of force, discreditable conduct, and authority, respect and courtesy.
The officers had been called to a care home in St Leonards-on-Sea on 21 June 2022, after a report that a resident had a knife and was threatening to stab staff. The resident was Donald Burgess, who was 92 at the time.
Police body-worn footage showed the officers entering a room where Burgess, who was wheelchair-bound with an amputated leg, had been isolated. Burgess was holding a cutlery knife.
Smith immediately told Burgess to put the knife down or face being “sprayed or Tasered”. Within 90 seconds of arriving, both officers had used force.
Smith discharged PAVA spray in Burgess’s face and struck the arm holding the knife with a baton. Comotto then discharged a Taser.
Burgess was handcuffed and taken to hospital, and died there on 13 July 2022. A pathologist determined that the officers’ actions did not cause or contribute to the death.
A further allegation against Comotto was proven, over a comment posted on Facebook shortly after the incident. A friend had made a light-hearted comment about a birthday and “the care home getting closer and closer”. The comment was not directed at Comotto, who replied: “We all know what happens in care homes”, followed by a lightning emoji.
“This was not a fast-paced incident where the officers or other care home residents were in immediate danger,” said Emily Barry, the IOPC’s director of engagement.
Burgess “clearly posed little risk to the officers”, Barry added, and any use of force “should have been a last resort and only used when necessary”.
“Their actions were clearly excessive and unreasonable and PC Comotto then displayed further poor judgement by joking about Tasering Mr Burgess on social media afterwards.”
What happened before
The IOPC began its investigation in June 2022, after a voluntary referral from Sussex Police, and concluded it six months later. It sent a file of evidence to the Crown Prosecution Service in June 2023, once the pathologist’s full report had arrived.
The Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges against both officers in March 2024. In May 2025, Smith and Comotto were acquitted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The IOPC had already decided that both should face a gross misconduct hearing.