A police officer was dubbed Britain’s unluckiest copper after he squirted pepper spray in his own face, had his jaw dislocated and was accidentally shot with a TASER – on Friday 13th.
Pc Jason Mepham grabbed a can of control spray from his belt after troublesome thug Jason King became aggressive and threatened the officer with violence.
He sprayed once – which temporarily halted King – but when he charged again Pc Mepham fired a second burst of gas which blew back into his own face.
The officer was left disorientated with a burning face and watering eyes when a police colleague arrived and grabbed hold of King.
But one of Kings’s friends then arrived and punched Jason in the face and he suffered a dislocated jaw.
The other officer saw his colleague in trouble and let go of King and fired his Taser gun but unfortunately only one electrode hit its intended target.
The other charge hit Pc Mepham who was felled by the massive electrical current.
King then ran around and kicked him hard in the face, relocating his jaw and seconds later police back-up arrived and arrested both offenders.
The series of events mimic the misfortunes suffered by Officer Nordberg in spoof cop film The Naked Gun.
In the hit 1988 film Nordberg, played by OJ Simpson, is shot various times, suffers a series of farcical injuries while in hospital and later crashes off the edge of the upper deck of a sports stadium while wheelchair-bound.
Pc Mepham, of Camborne, Cornwall, went to hospital but was back on duty later that evening doing paperwork.
He said: ”I felt my jaw go to the side of my face and then my head followed. I had terrible shooting pains. I’d never had anything like it before. My jaw had to be dislocated.
”It’s quite amusing when I look back at it now, but at the time it was horrific.
”I was frightened at the time, but I can see the funny side of it – particularly as it happened on Friday 13th.”
Jason King, of Camborne, Cornwall, pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, being drunk, two charges of travelling on the railway without paying a fare, and two of threatening behaviour towards a train manager.
His case was adjourned until September 21 for a probation report.
