NRL star Curtis Scott has been awarded more than $100,000 in legal costs after a magistrate said he "might have been safer" wandering drunkenly onto the road rather than being pepper-sprayed and tasered by police.
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The Canberra Raiders centre, 22, was originally charged with seven offences including two for assaulting a police officer following Australia Day celebrations in Sydney, but all charges were either dropped or dismissed.
"I genuinely think Mr Scott might have been safer if he had wandered onto the roadway and been hit by a car," magistrate Jennifer Giles said at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday.
"He would at least have still had the free use of his hands, and being upright, would have had got an ambulance much more quickly. He wouldn't have been blinded for 20 minutes, and wouldn't have been electrocuted (sic) while lying handcuffed on the ground.
"That is an absurd analogy, I know. But try to watch the body-cam footage without flinching. And try to remember you're not watching gratuitous violence off the dark web."
Ms Giles said it was "extraordinary" that the "faulty and unwarranted" NSW Police case against Scott proceeded with "no real prospects of success".
"If that was to make some kind of point to the public at large, some kind of teaching moment, then Mr Scott should not be forced to fund his obligatory part in such an exercise," the magistrate said.
Police alleged Scott was seen acting erratically in Paddington before they found him asleep at Moore Park in the early hours of January 27. He had previously been out at The Ivy, a swanky nightclub in Sydney's CBD.
Earlier this month Ms Giles said she did not have the "stomach" to watch Scott being tasered a third time after two separate videos were played of the incident.
The body cam footage showed police handcuff the former Melbourne Storm player and ask him more than 20 times to get up.
A drunk and disorientated Scott can be heard saying "I'm getting dressed" before repeating that he has "done nothing wrong".
Trying but failing to drag him onto his feet police pepper-spray his face which causes him to moan and yell he is "f***ing dying". He swats police away with his hands in cuffs.
Scott's lawyer Sam Macedone said the tasering that followed was inappropriate and unwarranted after Scott followed officers' instruction not to resist arrest and merely "raised his voice".
Mr Macedone said Scott lost a Nike sponsorship as a result of the charges, while the "NRL came down so hard on him" he was worried he would lose his career.
Ms Giles on Friday awarded Scott, who was not present in court, a total of $100,792.30 in legal costs.
A NSW Police spokeswoman said the force had noted the court's decision but could not comment further as the matter was subject to a Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Australian Associated Press
