Police officer sacked for assaulting colleagues

Mr McKie admitted assaulting his West Yorkshire Police colleagues as they tried to arrest him

A West Yorkshire police officer who assaulted his colleagues and then fled the scene after they had come to arrest him at his home has been sacked.

Daniel McKie, who was off-duty at the time, locked himself in a bathroom before pushing two officers and then fleeing the property in December 2022.

Mr McKie told a misconduct hearing he "wholeheartedly apologised" and wished to remain a police officer, having been suspended since the incident.

However, a panel ruled on Tuesday that he should be dismissed from the West Yorkshire force with immediate effect.

A separate allegation that Mr McKie had engaged in aggressive behaviour towards a woman, for which officers had been attempting to arrest him, was withdrawn by the police authority at the hearing at the force's HQ in Wakefield.

The misconduct hearing was held at West Yorkshire Police's headquarters in Wakefield

During the hearing, bodycam footage was shown from 2 December 2022, where Mr McKie was seen locking himself in a bathroom as two officers told him he was under arrest for claims stemming from the alleged incident five days before.

The officers were then seen telling Mr McKie that they would have to call for more units to break down the door if he did not come out.

A commotion ensued and the hearing was told Mr McKie had assaulted the officers and then fled the property in his car.

The hearing was told that as he was chased by other police officers who had been in a vehicle nearby, Mr McKie pulled over and then made off on foot, running through brambles and over fences before eventually giving himself up.

At Sheffield Magistrates' Court in April 2023, the officer was convicted of two charges of assaulting an emergency services worker and two counts of restricting a constable in the execution of their duty and he was sentenced to a community order.

'Fell to pieces'

Reading a statement at the misconduct hearing, Mr McKie said he had been under severe stress in his personal life for several weeks before the incident and that he should have asked for help from work.

He said he "loved" being a police officer and that, if allowed to continue on duty, he would use his experience to help colleagues.

"Mentally, I imploded. It had just been an awful, awful time. I just fell to pieces," Mr McKie told the hearing.

"I wholeheartedly apologise to those officers. It wasn't their fault and they weren't to know what I was suffering from.

"I'd never go out of my way to hurt or harm anybody. I just needed a moment to process the information [of the intended arrest]."

However, after deliberating for just over an hour, the panel concluded that Mr McKie's dismissal from the force was the "appropriate" disciplinary action.

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