Policeman after he climbed from the wreckage of his car.

Stevon Rewan alleged the officer assaulted him as he tried to make his way towards the other car involved in the head-on crash to see if the victims were injured.

And an eyewitness with whom The Royal Gazette has spoken has corroborated Mr.

Rewan's allegation of assault.

Mr. Rewan, 21, of St. Mary's Road, Warwick, said other motorists who stopped at the crash scene in the early hours of Sunday were so outraged by the officer's behaviour that they were ready to "start a riot''.

Mr. Rewan, an electrician, made a formal complaint to Hamilton Police Station on Monday and is demanding an apology and compensation.

He told The Royal Gazette : "I want something done about this guy. People say he's been reported before but nothing ever gets done.

"It's ridiculous. My car's a write-off, I'm climbing out of an accident, my face has blood on it, I've got a headache, and this idiot punches me in the face. It could have made my injuries worse.

"A lot of guys wanted to fight the Police because they saw this guy hitting me.

"These guys get away with far too much of this kind of rubbish. They think all youths are the same and hate the Police, but they have to consider that all people are not like that, just as all cops are not bad.'' Mr. Rewan said he was giving a friend a ride home to Warwick following a night out in Hamilton and was going back to town to collect another when he fell asleep at the wheel of his Suzuki Swift and collided head-on with the other car around 3 a.m. outside the Fourways Inn at Middle Road, Paget.

Mr. Rewan said: "I was in the car unconscious for a long time and it looked as though I was dead. The car was a write-off.

"I was trying to catch myself and I heard the girl screaming. One of the girls knew me and was asking if I was OK.

"I was going over to check the girls when this off-duty cop said: `Come here.

What's your name? Are you the driver of this car?' At that time I didn't know he was a cop.

"I said: `Hold on, I'm going to check out these girls.' He cursed me, saying `Am I talking to my f***ing self?' Everyone turned around and looked at him.

"I said: `Yeah, you're talking to yourself if that's what you want.' He came up and grabbed the back of my arm and I yanked my arm free.

"I said `get off' and kept on walking and he punched me on the face from behind. He was twice my size, but I turned round and kicked at him to get him off me and I said `we don't need any nonsense like that'.

"I was frustrated. I was already mad because of the crash. My neice's aunt was in the other car and I had endangered her life. I had a headache. I was tense and that got me mad.

Attack victim "This made me even more frustrated and people had to hold me back to stop me getting at him. At no time did he tell me he was a cop. I had to find that out from other people.

"Uniformed cops had arrived by this time and after that he was taunting me and making faces at me. I said `you guys get away with this too much', and I called him every name in the book.

"If I had thrown the first blow, I would have been handcuffed. But he was sitting there with the other cops making faces at me.'' Mr. Rewan, who said he had no criminal record, later took a voluntary breath test which he said was well within the legal limit.

Eyewitness Wayne Smith, 20, of Fentons Drive, Pembroke, was taking a friend home and came across the accident. He confirmed that the officer did not identify himself as a Policeman.

"Stevon was walking to the other car to see if the people were all right and he was grabbed from behind,'' he said.

"He pulled his arm out and the officer hit him on the side of the head with his radio. It was unnecessary.

"The guy had just been in an accident and wanted to see if the other people were OK. Stevon got all riled up and wanted to get at him, so I took him away.'' When contacted yesterday a Police spokesperson promised to get back to us. But there was no comment by Press time.

Looking for justice: Stevon Rewan wants an apology from Police.