assaulting two Police officers with a chemical spray.

David Anthony Brangman, represented by lawyer Mr. Michael Scott was acquitted at his retrial last week of assaulting P.cs James Walters and James Outerbridge outside Lines Grocery on Ord Road, Warwick in June 1992.

At a January trial, the jury deadlocked over two assault charges but found Brangman not guilty of possessing and importing a noxious spray called Chemical Shield.

However, Brangman was found guilty of offensive behaviour.

In the January trial, the officers and the accused gave conflicting accounts of how a routine warrant check in the early hours of June 11 degenerated into physical and verbal conflict.

Brangman, who is black, claimed the white Police officers made racist remarks and beat him. He claimed he used the chemical spray in self-defence.

The officers denied those claims, alleging it was Brangman who became verbally abusive when they attempted to carry out a routine warrant check.

As they attempted to arrest him for offensive behaviour, Brangman sprayed their faces with the mace-like substance, leaving them doubled over and crying before running away.

At last week's retrial, the officers claimed it was the lateness of the hour that prompted them to stop and question Brangman who was using a telephone outside Lines Grocery.

They denied his race had anything to do with their decision to stop, adding that had the man been Police Commissioner Mr. Colin Coxall they would have questioned him on his activities there at that hour.

Mr. Khamisi Tokumbo represented the Crown. Chief Justice the Hon. Mr. Austin Ward presided over the trial.