Topless teen girl bites officer in abduction report error

Police rushed to 16-year-old Rebecca Nelson’s home after receiving a 999 call telling them a man was forcibly 
dragging a girl into a house.

But he turned out to be her dad, who was trying to calm his daughter down after she’d had a drunken row with her boyfriend.

As he tried to stop her from running outside into the rain, her dressing gown fell off, 
leaving her naked from the waist up.

He then went out in the street to bring her back inside.

Nelson, of Broxburn, West Lothian, yesterday admitted resisting arrest and police assault at Livingston Sheriff Court, where she was ordered to carry out 60 hours of unpaid work.

The court heard that officers arrived in three police cars with blue lights flashing after an emergency call from Nelson’s ex-boyfriend’s mum, who was looking on from her car, on November 29 last year.

Although Nelson’s dad tried to explain what had happened, officers pinned the terrified teenager to the ground and shackled her legs as she lashed out in a bid to get free. During the struggle she bit PC Craig Leckie on the arm, breaking the skin in three places. He had to get an anti-tetanus jab from his doctor the next day.

Brent Bissett, prosecuting, said police arrived with batons drawn to find the accused “topless and hysterical”.

He said: “She was acting in a frenzied state, becoming increasingly violent and attempting to bite officers.”

Paul Haran, defending, said Nelson had never been in trouble before and came from a good family. He said her father had managed to get her back into the house and was trying to calm her down when he became aware of the flashing lights of the police cars. Mr Haran said: “There were at least five police officers attending – I suspect that might be because of the nature of the 
initial call.

“Miss Nelson again made to leave the house because she could see her boyfriend outside sitting in his mother’s car and her father tried to stop her by grabbing her dressing gown.

“He was unaware she had nothing on underneath and she ended up running into the street topless.” Mr Haran said Nelson’s dad witnessed his daughter being forced face down on the ground by police officers.

He added: “She recalls not a great deal of matters but does describe being fairly frightened at having five male police officers manhandling her to the ground.”

Sheriff Douglas Kinloch told Nelson to carry out the unpaid work within three months.

He said: “Assaulting a police officer and causing an injury is a serious matter.”