A young father is recovering in hospital after what he claims was an unprovoked attack by a Police detective which allegedly included a kick in the face and left him “spitting out blood”.

Troy Smith suffered a broken nose, two broken cheekbones, a broken bone above one of his eyelids and a sprained jaw after the alleged assault in the early hours of Sunday.

Bermuda Police Service said in a statement last night that Mr. Smith was “acting in a violent manner” and “turned his violence towards the Police”<>before he was subdued using a Taser device. The statement said he hadn’t complained to the Police’s Professional Conduct Unit so Police could take no further action.

Mr. Smith’s lawyer Graveney Bannister said the family had no intention of making a complaint to the force but would file a grievance today with the independent Police Complaints Authority. Mr. Smith, speaking with The Royal Gazette from his hospital bed, described how he went to his family’s home in Plaice’s Point Road, Spanish Point, after hearing that his mother was in a dispute with his cousin.

A verbal argument ensued in the road and Mr. Smith admitted he raised his voice and picked up a small stick to “beat up my little cousin with” for causing trouble.

Before he could use it, he said, two Police officers arrived at the scene, jumped out of their car and took out Taser devices.

The 28-year-old, who suffers from anxiety attacks, said he backed away from the detectives while telling them he wasn’t to blame - but was fired at anyway.

Next, he claimed, one officer came at him with pepper spray, while the other “came in with his baton and started going crazy on me. “He beat me on my leg. He beat me on my left side. He had his elbow up in my face. The other guy was still spraying me. Next thing I know I was on the ground on my side with my hands handcuffed behind my back. I just remember feeling blows coming to my body.

”I was already handcuffed. I couldn’t see any more because my eyes had been pepper sprayed.

When I was on the ground handcuffed, that’s when I was getting kicked in the head by the Police officer.”

Mr. Smith’s stepfather Richard Robinson, who was watching from a first-floor balcony, saw his stepson fling down the stick and it bounced off his wife’s shin, hurting her.

"She limped off and went inside,” he said. “That’s when they [the detectives] ran at him.”

He claimed one of the officers “flicked out the baton and whaled him across the thigh. I believe it was twice. Then they wrestled him on top of a car”.

The officers pushed Mr. Smith onto the ground and handcuffed him before one of them “kicked him dead smack in the face,” according to Mr. Robinson, 45. “It was one solid kick to the face with boots.”

Mr. Smith, who works for his stepfather’s trucking company and has a five-year-old daughter named Tasia, was driven by Police to Hamilton Police Station, then King Edward VII<>Memorial Hospital, before being taken to Somerset Police Station and locked in a cell.

He was released on Police bail on Sunday evening after Mr. Bannister attended the station and insisted his client be allowed to return to hospital. Mr. Smith has not been charged with any offence.

Mr. Bannister said: “His left eye was swollen and had welts on it. His face was swollen and his eyes were red and bloodshot and he was spitting out blood. He was gagging. He had difficulty speaking.

”At one point, he had to use his hand to pull his lower lip apart. He only had one painkiller left and there had been no attempt to fill a prescription for antibiotics from the hospital.”

Mr. Smith’s mother Gena Robinson, 47, said her son had two hours of surgery on Tuesday to mend the bones in his face and must see a specialist to find out if there is permanent damage.

”When I saw him I just said:<>’Oh my God, what have they done to my child?’ I don’t want anybody else to go through what this child has gone through. He can’t work. He has no health insurance. He can’t see properly.”

She alleged: “I’m stunned that they would do something like this. It was totally unwarranted, a total overreaction. The kid never bothered with anybody and for him to get this, he didn’t deserve it.”

The BPS statement said Police attended a report of domestic violence at about 2.30 am on Sunday.

”Attending officers encountered a 28-year-old Pembroke man acting in a violent manner. Both the Police and the man’s relatives tried reasoning with the man who then turned his violence towards the Police. The officers deployed Captor incapacitant spray but it did not affect the man. He continued to attack the officers and a violent struggle ensued. Officers eventually subdued the man through the use of the Taser device.

”Police conveyed the man to hospital where he declined medical treatment. He was taken to the Police station and later released on Police bail pending further enquiries. We understand that he subsequently returned to the hospital and was admitted for treatment.

”It was unclear whether the man had tried to make a complaint against the officers. The Professional Conduct Unit of the Police Service today made contact with the man to ascertain his position. The man declined to speak to the officers and at this point - in the absence of a complaint - there is no further action that the Police can take on this matter.”