A POLICE force has been ordered to pay almost £18,000 damages to a man who suffered a broken jaw while he was being arrested for urinating in the street.

Paul Grainger, 47, sued Cleveland Police for assault, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution after his arrest in November 2002.

He claimed in a two-day trial at Teesside Crown Court that officers fractured his jaw and damaged his teeth.

A jury found the force liable, and Judge Michael Taylor awarded Mr Grainger a total of £17,700, and the costs of his case.

The judge said that police officers who abuse drunks or people under the influence of drink can expect to be open to criticism.

But he accepted that it might have been a case of a hard-pressed officer "losing his rag and going over the top" after a busy night shift.

Mr Grainger was challenged by the police as he urinated against shop shutters in Corporation Road, Middlesbrough.

He told the jury that the public toilets were closed, and he added: "I didn't fall down, they threw me. My face just exploded. There were bits of teeth coming out, blood everywhere.

"I was in absolute agony."

He was arrested but he was driven directly to hospital for treatment to his injuries.

There, an experienced sergeant de-arrested him. Later, he was accused of being drunk and disorderly and urinating in a public place. He then agreed to be bound over to behave on the urination offence.

PC Callum Chaytor was criticised by the judge for being evasive in giving his evidence.

The officer said that Mr Grainger, from Easterside, Middlesbrough, was very drunk and verbally abusive. He claimed that Mr Grainger lost his footing and fell, and he denied assaulting him.

The judge said: "I quite frankly did not believe a word of PC Chaytor's evidence, that he was cautioning Mr Grainger and that he intended to report him for urinating in a public place.

"The injury was unpleasant and it came about as a violent fall to the ground, and it came about as a result of a police officer losing his head."

However, the judge also said that Mr Grainger brought the confrontation upon himself by urinating in public.