Jesse Charles Le Galloudec, 28, had denied both charges.
He had been off duty in August 2024 when he saw a teenager doing a skid on his motorbike at the traffic lights before riding on to the pavement. CCTV footage from a nearby property showed him stepping into the road and as he tried to stop the bike, his left hand made contact with the rider’s arm.
He described it as a ‘flinch reaction’ but the teenager said it was ‘a pretty hard grab’, and he fell from his machine, which slid across the road. He got straight up and challenged Le Galloudec, recording the footage on his phone.
This footage was shown to the court alongside clips recorded by a friend and a passer-by which showed the youth being held on the ground by Le Galloudec, and later being restrained in a double arm lock.
The teenager got angry and was eventually arrested for disorderly behaviour, but at the police station he was de-arrested and later released.
In cross-examination by Advocate Amy Davies, defending, the teenager accepted that he had acted in an aggressive way, including shouting and waving his mobile phone in Le Galloudec’s face while recording.
Le Galloudec told the court that he had heard a skid and gone into the road, raising his hand to stop the rider who he suspected of riding through a red light on the pavement, intending to ‘offer him words of advice’.
But as the bike continued towards him he thought it was going to ram him. He had moved his hand to the left in order to push the bike away if it had got too close. He said he had not intended to pull the youth off his bike.
When the youth approached him he identified himself as a police officer. He had tried to de-escalate the situation but arrested the teenager when he failed to calm down.
Under cross-examination by Advocate Liam Roffey, Le Galloudec said he believed that there was ultimately a potential risk to life from the rider’s behaviour.
Judge Gary Perry said he had found the youth to be honest, for the most part, and on the key issues the judge was sure he was giving an honest account.
By contrast, Le Galloudec was not a convincing witness, he said, and had tried to divert and deflect questions.
The judge said he was sure that the defendant had realised that grabbing the youth was reckless and unlawful and so amounted to an assault. The arrest was made because Le Galloudec had lost control of a situation which he had created, he said. Despite identifying himself as a police officer, the judge found his actions in restraining the youth were unlawful and was also an assault.
Le Galloudec was granted unconditional remand and will be sentenced in January.
Police said that an internal misconduct investigation into Le Galloudec had been paused pending the outcome of court proceedings but would now resume. ‘Guernsey Police cannot comment further on this investigation while these conduct proceedings are ongoing,’ said a spokesman.
