Off-duty cop ‘bull-rushed’ and beat neighbour, 72, after paddle-boarding car

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A distressing video has captured the moment an off-duty police officer beat up his 72-year-old neighbour after the cop was confronted for supposedly hitting the pensioner's car with a paddle board.

The footage, which was filmed by other residents on the street in Boston. Massachusetts, showed the elderly victim Harry Horsley on the ground as Officer Scott Saunders, 36, was on top of him, repeatedly punching him in the face.

Eventually, the officer got up and allowed the older man to get back on his feet.

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The senior is red-faced when he stands up and starts walking back to the driver's side of the vehicle when the officer is shown pushing him down again.

Horsley told police he was driving on the narrow Furnace Colony Drive in Pembroke when Saunders struck his car with a paddleboard, so he pulled over and got out of the vehicle, WCVB reported.

“Why did you hit my car? That’s all I said,” Horsley told Boston 25.

“He bull-rushed me down to the ground, and landed on top of me, I’m on my back. He pounded away. I’m like this trying to protect myself from getting hit worse.”

The 18-year police veteran Saunders told officers that it was the senior man who started the fight.

He even claimed that Horsley punched him in the face and that he pushed him away after that, despite footage showing the officer on top of him in a mount position.

According to Boston 25 News, the police report they obtained stated: “Saunders’ back is to the camera and (the neighbour’s) hands are not visible at this time then Saunders pushes (the neighbour) with both hands to his chest area causing him to fall backwards onto the ground,” police wrote in their report.

“Saunders proceeds forward following (the neighbour) to the mount and straddling his body.

“As Saunders is on top of (the neighbour) Saunders Is seen throwing one punch to the face area for (the neighbour) before standing and walking away from the area toward his residence."

Police wrote that when the two men were face-to-face, they could not see the victim’s hands in the video.

Horsley suffered cuts and swelling to the face after being attacked by the officer, who was charged with assault and battery on a person over 60.

The police report said the injuries included a cut to the left side of Horsley's face, a bloody nose, swelling and bruising around an eye, and other injuries.

“Here I am, 72 years old, I shouldn’t be taking a punch from anybody, let alone a police sergeant,” Horsley told Boston 25 News.

“He should have known that everything he has done was wrong. You don’t assault somebody that’s a senior. You just don’t do it – it’s unheard of.”

The Hull Police Department has launched an internal affairs investigation and has notified the Massachusetts Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission.

Saunders is due back in court in September and has been placed on leave.

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