Police sergeant who attacked taxi driver would have faced immediate dismissal, misconduct panel rules
- Perry Richardson
- 14 minutes ago
- 2 min read
A former West Yorkshire Police sergeant would have been dismissed without notice had he remained in service after being convicted of intentionally strangling and assaulting a taxi driver, according to a published accelerated misconduct hearing determination.
The accelerated misconduct hearing, held on 30 July 2026, considered the conduct of former PS 6028 Howard following an incident in which he attacked a taxi driver while travelling home from a night out in Leeds city centre.
The determination states that the former officer, who was heavily intoxicated, placed his hands around the driver’s neck before punching him six times to the head while using abusive language. He was later convicted of intentional strangulation and assault at Leeds Magistrates’ Court and sentenced to a community order.
Former Chief Constable Tedds, who chaired the hearing, found the allegations proven on the balance of probabilities. The determination notes that the former officer made full admissions, accepted he had breached the Standards of Professional Behaviour relating to discreditable conduct, admitted gross misconduct and expressed remorse for his actions.
In the written determination, the chair said there was “incontrovertible evidence” of the assault through both the criminal conviction and CCTV footage. The ruling added that an unprovoked criminal assault on a taxi driver was sufficiently serious to justify dismissal and would have a significant detrimental impact on public trust and confidence in policing.
The hearing found the former officer’s culpability to be high. While the attack was not premeditated, the determination states that the actions were intentional and targeted, with voluntary intoxication providing no mitigation. It also highlighted that the victim was working in a public service role as a taxi driver when the assault took place.
The panel heard that although the taxi driver suffered no visible injuries, he experienced neck pain for several days and “genuinely feared for his life”, leaving him feeling very scared following the incident. The determination also concluded that the conduct would damage public confidence in policing because the public expects police officers to exercise self-control and not resort to unlawful violence.
In mitigation, the hearing recognised that the incident was a single episode of misconduct, that the former officer self-reported the matter, pleaded guilty at an early stage, accepted responsibility and resigned from West Yorkshire Police. His previous service record and character references describing him as a caring and effective officer were also taken into account.
Despite those mitigating factors, the determination concluded there were no exceptional circumstances that would justify any sanction short of dismissal. As the misconduct post-dated changes to police conduct regulations introduced on 28 May 2025, the chair ruled that dismissal without notice would have been the only appropriate outcome had the former officer still been serving.
