Todd Barry Apted, 52, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of assaulting Juma Obeid on a Sunday afternoon in Newnham in August, 2020.

He was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice on September 1, 2020 when he falsely told Tasmania Police Professional Standards officers that Mr Obeid was armed with a knife and that he feared for his life.

Apted elaborated his account after being told by a police colleague that the footage "looked untidy'.

The assault occurred after an off-duty Apted overreacted when his son rang him to tell him of a confrontation in which Mr Obeid punched the window of the son's car.

High quality video footage from a house in Tompsons Lane captured the incident in which an aggressive Apted screamed abuse and advanced on Mr Obeid. "You f---ing piece of shit...you want to have a crack at my boy?", he said.

During the professional standards interview it was apparent that Mr Apted had not told Mr Obeid that he was a police officer until one minute and 35 seconds into the footage when he said: "You f---ed with wrong person c---, I'm a police officer."

Defence counsel Grant Tucker said that Apted had resigned from Tasmania Police after a 24-year career.

Justice Robert Pearce said that the jury had found Apted did not act in self defence.

He said that the incident between Mr Obeid and Apted's son was relatively trivial and did not justify the confrontation.

He said that the assault was not a serious example of the crime and that Apted came off far worse in the fight.

He fined Apted $1500.

Justice Pearce said that perverting justice was the more serious crime. He said misleading investigators was not a decision that was made in the heat of the moment.

He said that people who perverted justice were almost always jailed.

"The fact that you were a police officer is an aggravating factor," he said.

Justice Pearce said he would have considered a home detention order a suitable sentence but Apted had been found unsuitable.

"I regard a term of imprisonment as the only appropriate sentence but will allow you the chance to avoid actual imprisonment by wholly suspending it," he said.

He imposed a six month term wholly suspended for two years on the condition that he commit no imprisonable offence.

The court heard that Apted suffered post traumatic stress syndrome from cumulative effects of his police service.

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