Manchester United skipper Harry Maguire’s legal troubles following his arrest on the Greek island of Mykonos look set to continue after a police officer involved in detaining him claims to have suffered a “permanent” back injury.
Ioannis Paradissis, a lawyer representing one of the officers involved in Maguire’s arrest, claims that his client injured his lower back when he was allegedly thrown to the ground by the England international in a confrontation outside of a bar.
Paradissis is representing two of the officers involved in the incident, both of whom claim they were attacked by the England international.
“The worst injury was of the policeman who was thrown on the pavement by Harry Maguire. It was a lower back injury,” Paradissis told the Sunday Mirror.
“It is possible [that the injury may be permanent], yes, with this kind of injury. Of course it could cause him more problems in future,” he said, also stating that another officer received an injury to his wrist.
The confrontation between Maguire, his friends and a group of other men required police intervention after Maguire’s 20-year-old sister was allegedly assaulted by the group of men in the early hours of last Thursday morning.
Maguire has since launched a legal appeal against a subsequent conviction for assaulting a police offer and attempted bribery.
Paradissis said that his clients have not yet made a decision as to whether or not they will sue Maguire, adding that under Greek law they have a period of five years in which they can launch legal proceedings.
In his first comments since the arrest, Maguire said that his “conscience is clean” and that he “feared for his life” during the incident, which he said he initially thought was a kidnapping attempt.
Maguire was handed a suspended jail sentence by the Greek court, but his appeal means that the verdict is considered null and void, with a retrial set to commence in a more senior court at a later date.
Paradissis, meanwhile, called into question Maguire’s version of events and notes that the player has yet to apologize to the Greek authorities for his role in the fracas.
“I’m very sorry for the policemen who have been hit’, but instead he says that he didn’t hurt them as much as they did him,” he said.
“That is what they find sad. He appears to be accusing the police when they are the victims here. He’s trying to flip the argument.”
