Portsmouth man receives six-month sentence for battery on police and resisting arrest

A Portsmouth man, alleged to have brought marijuana for a female patient of the Psychiatric Unit, was sentenced to six months imprisonment, after pleading guilty to battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

“A man burst my head three times [in] the same area, I resisting arrest? That is justice?” Jervier Gordon told Magistrate Candia George, in an attempt to justify his actions. However, Magistrate George reminded him that his guilty plea does not warrant him to give an excuse for his actions.

Gordon, whose wrist was cut in another incident, was approached by Special Constable Cuffy A. on Christmas Eve at the Psychiatric Unit after receiving some information from a nurse.

Cuffy informed Gordon about an allegation that he was bringing marijuana to a female patient, as well as having sexual intercourse with her. However, the defendant denied the claim, saying “I know nothing about that.”

In his attempt to conduct a search on Gordon, Special Constable Cuffy was slapped on the left side of his face. Consequently, he informed Gordon that he was arresting him, but he resisted by swinging punches. During the
struggle, the two men fell and Cuffy took his baton to subdue the defendant. He cautioned the defendant to stop resisting arrest;however, Gordon still put up a fight. Subsequently, Cuffy, the said nurse and other staff of the Psychiatric Unit were able to subdue Gordon, according to the facts of the case.

Thereafter, Cuffy took the defendant to the Casualty Department where they were both treated, and he was issued a medical form by Constable Le Blanc D., which was signed by Dr. Issa.  Constable Le Blanc D. and Challenger D. came to Cuffy’s assistance to transport the defendant onto the police vehicle, and he violently resisted to the extent that another struggle ensued. He received more injuries as a result; the police officers placed Gordon at the back of the police pickup and brought him to the Police Headquarters.

“All you have to do is give me the injection and I’ll calm down,” Gordon told policemen that day, while misbehaving again.

The police prosecutor told the court this morning that a check at the Psychiatric Unit revealed that Gordon was not a former or current patient there.

“I deeply regret what transpired between me and Constable Cuffy,” Gordon said in his plea of mitigation.

He continued to plead leniency from Magistrate George, adding “I don’t need to go prison. I started going since at the age of 15, I 31 right now. Probably if you ask me to pay some money I could, but I don’t need to go prison now … I have connections.”

While Magistrate George noted that the defendant did not waste the court’s time by pleading guilty, she was not impressed with his rap sheet.

“You have to learn when you see an officer in uniform to do what they say… You have to comply,” she told him.

Gordon was sentenced to three months in prison for battery on police and another three months for resisting arrest. These sentences are to run consecutively.