Doorman On Trial For Manslaughter Date: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 Source: EDP24

The amount of force used by door staff when ejecting reveller's has been put under the spotlight for a jury to consider after a doorman went on trial for killing a man he pushed out of a Norwich nightclub. Doorman Steven Hopkins pushed 46-year-old Phillip Ward as he was leaving the Chicago Rock Café in Prince of Wales Road, after a night out with his wife and friends, causing him to fall backwards and strike his head, inflicting a fatal head injury from which he never regained consciousness. Hopkins, 28, has denied the manslaughter of Mr Ward, on May 30, last year. Christopher Morgan, prosecuting, showed a Norwich Crown Court jury CCTV footage of the incident and said: “The incident itself lasts no more than two or three minutes but the end result, however, was the death of Phillip Ward.” Mr Morgan added: “There is no dispute in this case that Steven Hopkins killed Mr Ward.” However he said that Hopkins had “no right” to eject Mr Ward in the manner he did. He said that Hopkins, of Woodward Road, Norwich, was a registered doorman and would have been trained in the correct way to eject people without either the door staff or the person being ejected, getting hurt. Mr Ward had been to a birthday party with his wife Mandy and friends and they had then gone on to Chicago Rock Café. Mr Morgan said that Mr Ward had been drinking and had caused no problems that evening. But as he was leaving, his wife had stopped to talk to a friend and he opened an internal door to look for her when Hopkins told him it was company policy that the door should remain closed at all times. Mr Morgan said that Hopkins claimed that Mr Ward swore at him and said he was waiting or his wife and had muttered something which had led Hopkins to confront Mr Ward. He said the Crown did not accept that Mr Ward had acted this way, but even if he had, it did not give rise to method used by Hopkins to eject Mr Ward. He said Hopkins claimed he acted in self-defence after he said Mr Ward had lunged at him as he was leading him out of the nightclub so he pushed him out through the doors of the club fearing the situation would escalate. He said: “It caused Mr Ward to go straight back falling across the steps onto the pavement without any break in his fall and striking his head. It was quite plain that Mr. Ward was fatally injured. He was taken to hospital but never regained consciousness'. He added: “It is the Crown's case that this defendant had no right to eject Mr Ward and the method he used was not one that he was trained in.” Giving evidence, Mr Ward's wife Mandy, said they had been enjoying a night out and had been leaving the club when she had stopped to check on a friend. When she caught up with her husband she heard him tell Hopkins that he had only been waiting for his “missus” She said; “I said I'm here now and we turned to walk out the door and Phil said to me why has he still got hold of me.” She said that as they were walking out Hopkins had pushed him and he had fallen backwards causing the fatal injury. She said she held her husband's hand as his body lay motionless on the floor and then police and an ambulance had arrived. Another witness Diane Reade said that she was a regular at Chicago Rock and considered Hopkins a “nice doorman.” She said that she had also been ejected from the club that night and had been outside the club when she saw Mr Ward coming flying backwards straight out of the door. Ms Reade said she would never forget the sound of his head hitting the pavement. “I will never forget it. It was horrendous.” The trial continues. To read more please click on the link below: EDP24 Courtesy of SecurityOracle.com - The Secury Industry's Portal