NSW Police Officer Steven Hyde Keeps Job After Assaulting Man on Hospital Stretcher

A New South Wales Police officer has retained his position despite being found guilty of assaulting a man who was being transported into a hospital on a stretcher by paramedics.

Exclusive footage obtained shows the assault, which occurred at Blacktown Hospital in November 2023. Leading Senior Constable Steven Hyde and his partner, Constable Talaisai Alo, had been called to a man's Western Sydney home, where they found him unconscious following a suspected drug overdose.

An ambulance was summoned, and paramedics managed to revive the man before taking him to Blacktown Hospital for observation. The incident took place in the hospital's emergency department.

The man was not under arrest, but the two police officers escorted him to the hospital. Upon arrival, footage from the hospital's CCTV shows the man being wheeled into the emergency department in the ambulance bay, with his legs strapped to the gurney.

He was holding a vape in one hand and a water bottle in the other when Officer Hyde approached and confiscated the vape. The man then threw the water bottle over his shoulder, prompting Officer Hyde to react by hitting him in the side of the head.

Officer Alo then grabbed the man and restrained him, shortly before his body-worn camera began recording audio of the incident. The man can be heard saying, "I put water on you" before asking the officer to let go of his arm.

The officer tells the man, "I'll f***ing rip your shoulder off if you don't listen to me", before handcuffing the man behind his back. The officer then tells the man he is being charged with assaulting police, before wheeling him into the hospital as he says, "Keep your head down, no-one deserves to look at you."

The body camera vision ends as the man is wheeled into the emergency room. The man was strapped to a stretcher during the assault.

An ambulance officer who witnessed the incident later gave a statement to police, saying she also heard one of the police officers say to the man inside the hospital: "Why do you want to go home? No-one cares about you." She did not specify which officer said it.

Officer Hyde was later charged with assault for hitting the man in the head. Officer Alo has not been charged over the incident.

Officer Hyde, who had been a police officer for more than a decade, faced a local court hearing earlier this year, where he tendered a written statement claiming he acted in self-defence.

"Almost immediately after I turned, I felt something strike my right shoulder and back area … my initial belief was that [the victim] had assaulted me," his statement said. "I was very concerned that his behaviour had now escalated and he would continue his assault upon me."

To prevent this happening, Officer Hyde said he turned and struck the victim.

"It is my experience that many illegal drugs that are extensively used on the street result in people becoming extremely unpredictable, irrational and violent," his statement said. "When [the victim] regained consciousness, he was immediately argumentative … he was swearing and aggressive, although not directly threatening to me."

Officer Hyde was found guilty of assault by a Local Court Judge earlier this year before he appealed the conviction and sentence in the District Court. This week, a District Court judge again found him guilty of assault but opted not to record a conviction against him.

The judge sentenced him to a 12-month good behaviour bond. A statement from NSW Police this week said Officer Hyde remains on the force and was "subject to management action" in June.

"The officer has also been subjected to a loss of rank, two years of restricted duties and will be required to undertake retraining under a management plan," a spokesperson said in the statement. "Police will continue to monitor the actions of the officer and undertake regular reviews of his conduct."