A MAN who tried to get help for an unconscious reveller told a court yesterday he was handcuffed and sprayed with CS spray after asking police to call an ambulance.

Mr Vincent, 20, told Teesside Crown Court how he and three friends were about to go into the Madison nightclub in Middlesbrough when a man fell down a flight of stairs, smashing his face on the concrete floor of the entrance.

Mr Vincent said he saw a police van and ran to ask an officer to call an ambulance.

He said that when he asked the officer to radio for an ambulance, PC Philip Sylvester grabbed him by the sleeve, ripping his shirt.

The court was told that the officer then sprayed CS spray directly at Mr Vincent's head from six inches away.

Mr Vincent said: "I felt a burning sensation. I couldn't see or breathe.

"I was told to put my hands behind my back and the handcuffs were put on, and I was taken in the van to the police station."

Mr Vincent was released at 4.20am the next day. He signed a number of forms, including one accepting a police caution for being drunk, but told the court he did not know what he was signing.

He said: "I just wanted to get out of there.

"Nothing was explained to me, I just signed to get away home."

Mr Vincent, a council worker of Honiton Road, Middlesbrough, is suing Cleveland Police for false imprisonment and assault.

The barrister acting for him, Hugh Tomlinson, told the jury: "This is a case of a Good Samaritan who goes to get help and finds himself gassed and put in a police cell."

Stephen Twist, for Cleveland Police, said Mr Vincent had been drunk, abusive and aggressive to the officer.

The case continues