Police arrest beggar who continued walking up to residents in Rugby despite showing signs of covid

Police have rubbished rumours that they tasered two men who who were begging in Rugby town centre on Wednesday, January 27.

The two men arrested lived together, and one of them was showing symptoms of covid.

Police said they were reportedly continuing to approach residents to ask for money - despite being warned to stop.

Members of the public witnessed the arrest, in which police donned riot gear and carried tasers.

Some then took to social media to express outrage at what they perceived to be heavy-handedness over the arrest, even accusing the officers of tasering the men.

But Rugby Police has today, January 29, issued a statement rubbishing these rumours, and explaining why they used shields during the arrest.

Sergeant Jack Zielinski from Rugby Safer Neighbourhood Team said: “We understand this incident has caused some concern locally given the nature of the arrest.

"The officers did have some public order equipment; shields and helmets.

"These were only used to provide the officers with an extra layer of protection on top of the usual equipment worn to protect themselves from Covid.

“Contrary to comments being made locally, officers did not deploy Tasers on the men. They did have Tasers with them to provide an extra layer of protection by ensuring distance was maintained, but they were not deployed.

“The detained men are subject to the same laws as everyone and had been warned about begging prior to one of them developing symptoms. They were posing a serious risk to members of the public and we took action to address this.”