Media caption,
The officer was said to have flashed his badge after picking a fight
A woman has claimed she was pushed and threatened by an off-duty police officer at a Tom Jones concert before he flashed his badge to try to avoid being thrown out.
Natalie Wood, 32, said he swore at her and tried to start a fight with her partner at Monday’s Cardiff Castle gig.
The event organiser said incidents were taken seriously and it was committed to “a safe and secure environment”.
South Wales Police has referred it to its Professional Standards Department.
“We’d got our spot and we were just chilling when (the support act) Far From Saints came on,” said Ms Wood, from Risca, Caerphilly county.
“You’ve got people brushing past you, squeezing through, which is fine… then I got shoved so hard I nearly fell over.
“The next thing I turn round and this man and his partner are both looking at me, really smug.
Image source, Natalie Wood
Image caption,
The off-duty officer is led out of the Tom Jones show at Cardiff Castle
“The girlfriend came marching towards me, swearing at me in my face. They were drunk, so she was slurring and swearing.
“She turned around and tapped her partner on the shoulder and says ‘sort her out'”.
Ms Wood said the pair then started verbally abusing her and the rest of her group and that the man then tried to start a fight with her partner, Owain, before the event stewards intervened.
‘Abuse of power’
“My partner said to him ‘you need to leave now. If you want to hit me then do it, I’m not going to fight you’. They had to physically grab him and pull him away,” Ms Wood added.
“I think they were going to kick him out at this point, but then he pulls out his police badge.”
Ms Wood described the officer’s behaviour as “mind-blowing”, and called it an “abuse of power”.
Image source, Natalie Wood
Image caption,
Natalie Wood claims she was pushed by the off-duty officer
“The stewards, they were only young lads, they didn’t know what to do,” she said.
“Everybody around us was asking us if we were OK. They all witnessed it. Other people were asking security to kick them out.”
According to Ms Wood, the officer and his partner were then moved to another part of the venue, but she claimed he continued to taunt her and her group.
About 40 minutes later, she saw a large group of security running through the crowd before the officer and his partner were removed from the venue.
“Everybody was cheering and he was getting dragged out, smiling,” she said.
She said she was told by stewards that he had been “thrown out for an altercation with someone else”.
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Tom Jones, pictured here at a gig earlier in July, played Cardiff Castle again on Monday
Ms Wood said she has reported the incident to South Wales Police and wants to see the officer disciplined, describing him as “not fit to be a police officer”.
“He clearly thinks he’s untouchable. He isn’t on duty. He isn’t working. He has no need to have his badge on him,” she said.
“His behaviour, regardless of what your job is, is totally unacceptable and despicable”.
A spokesperson for Depot, the event organiser, said: “On Monday evening, members of the public approached our security staff to report an ongoing incident and in line with our protocols, a man was given a verbal warning.
A short while later, staff were alerted to another disturbance in the crowd involving the same person – and having already been given a warning, we made the decision to eject him from the premises.
“Incidents like these are taken seriously by our team and we remain committed to maintaining a safe and secure environment for everyone at our events.”
In a statement, South Wales Police said: “We are aware of a social media post following a recent Tom Jones concert in Cardiff.
“The matter has been referred to the Professional Standards Department”.
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