sparkindarkness | Ok... this is stinking worse and worse

We have a man at the G20 protests who died froma heart attack. The police assured us that they had had no contact with him before and only helped him afterwards.

They lied. Footage showed him being violently thrown to the ground. Ok, they said, that was it.

They lied. More footage showed him being attacked from behind by a policeman with a baton.

They lied, the police did not help him - they stood and watched him fall.

The investigators - forced on them by immense public outrage - claimed there was no CCTV footage of the area. He lied. There was and it came out (how STUPID a lie is this?! If there are 6 square inches of London NOT covered by CCTV I'd be damned surpirsed)

A second post mortem has been done. Ian Tomlinson died of internal bleeding. Not a heart attack. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6113960.ece They lied...

What the hell. Seriously this is fucked up to an unbelievable measure of fucked up. They killed this man and fought to cover it up over and over again - it's Menenzes all over again. The police seem to think they can kill with impunity and then lie about it. That they can protect killers - that the law they are supposed to uphold doesn't apply to them and the public they are supposed to protect and serve is meat to abuse at will.

More and more footage is emerging - of a man reeling and falling from a police right hook to the jaw. Of a woman slapped aside then batoned. Of a man with concussion from the police riot shield slammed into the BACK of his head.

And there the police stand with BALACLAVAS on and grey strips of cloth covering their identification numbers on their epaulettes. They've DELIBERATELY hidden themselves from accountability from their crimes - they've gone out, hidden, EXPECTING to commit crimes. Sure that their colleagues will keep their mouths shut (which they did) and that their superiors will lie for them (which they did).

It stinks. How can we have even the slightest respect for ANY police through this? Because the whole damn mess of them were involved in this. Dozens upon dozens have to have keept silent, have to have lied, have to have suppressed the truth. Hundreds must have seen the balaclavas, the masking cloth, the violence, the attacks, the killing - and NOT CARED AND NOT DONE ANYTHING.

These people cannot be trusted. And while it is this disgustingly widespread and while CONSENT AND APPROVAL for such vileness remains prevalent and the NORM in the police force then they destroy any trust any police can have.

I will not have police as my masters. I will not live knowing that thugs in uniform can attack and abuse me with the full protection and consent of their peers and superiors. I will not have my tax money pay for an army of people outside the law.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

We will not.

Definitely

So, what are you going to do?

You're trained in the law. Of the many people who are doubtless outraged over this, you're among those best informed about the options the law provides for challenging what happened and holding the authorities accountable.

You're right; what you're describing is unacceptable. But if it's going to stop, people need to take formal action to protest and demonstrate that they will not accept it. If this sounds like a challenge...well, it is. Many of the police who weren't directly involved probably saw it, thought it wasn't right, maybe told their friends how wrong it was or posted about it on their blogs somewhere...but didn't DO anything.

From everything you've said, you obviously want to do better than that.

So, what are you going to do?

Incidentally, if you were in the US, I'd make suggestions instead of just posing the challenge, but I just don't know enough about UK law to know what your options are. But YOU do :)

Our firm does pro-bono work for those suffering from police misconduct (yes, the partners don't like the police much either) and we aggreswsively push for prosecution and professional penalties for any officer involved in such or tangentally part of such - which is why all those standing around doing nothing annoy me so, because it has been something we've been crusading about for a while. Since we're defence lawyers we see a lot of this crap, sadly

Excellent. Actually, that (legal work for the victims) was one thing that came to mind, but I wasn't precisely sure what sort of law your firm dealt with.

On a totally different note, are you in the vicinity of London? I'm going to be over there for a week and a bit in May on business, and I'd love to have dinner or something with you (and perhaps the Beloved?) while I'm there. Though it occurs to me now that maybe that's why

lilisonna wanted your email :)

Aye, we do a lot of defence work.

I live in yorkshire, a long way from London, it isn't easy to get down really, about 5 hours travel., Still, I can see what time off i have in May :)

anything the general public can do, apart from the (already written) letter to the mp calling for an independent review and the criminal prosecution of those involved?

Bombard. Write to everyone - not just your MP, but members of government, the IPCC, the police forces in question, your local police force any and all media. Don't stop, don't confine it to one letter. Repeat them all again in 2 weeks. Don't let it be forgotten

Completely heinous. Are you sure they're not Americans? Our police do this, you know.

That's unfair because there are fine and ethical officers. I know because I was related to one. Then there are the other kind, like the one who shot a 80+ year old grandfather on the man's own front porch because 'he moved too fast' and happened to be of African ancestry.

But covering up their ID numbers I think enabled them. We can get away with it, which only works if someone has no soul and no concience

Heinousness is not limited to nation - but police excesses on this level isn't normally heard of. but then we didn't have so many mobile recording devices before.

Exactly - to me that's one of the worst things because it shows pre-meditation. And it let them show their worst side

Sickening.. I hope those cops are found and subjected to the entire might of the law, including murder for that one man.

They're finally admitting that it's a manslaughter charge - still not named him like they would any other accused criminal (I don't actually don't approve of naming accused before they're found guilt but I find the refusal to name him objectionable becuase it's exceptional).

Frankly manslaughter - when you club someone to the point of causing severe internal bleeding? Bah last time THIS lawyer checked murder included a "recklessness" option in the mens rea and I fail to see why MANSLAUGHTER is appropriate here

wow, and I thought the cops around here were bullies

makes 'V for Vendetta' more plausible every day...

It's pretty damn awful and utterly disgusting. I am almost more disgusted that it isn't considered more of a scandal than it is

...the hell. I've heard this kind of thing about American cops before, but not British. What the hell.

It shouldn't happen - anywhere under any condition

Of cours,e it has a lot. And if people hadn't caught it on camera it would have happened and been hidden all over again

If it's not already, it should be illegal for the police to conceal the identification numbers on their epaulettes.

After all, if they aren't doing anything wrong, they shouldn't have any reason to hide the information. And if they ARE doing something wrong (as they clearly were in this case), they should be held accountable for their actions, and finding out who those officers were should not take drastic measures.

It's certainly against procedural rules. IT's utterly appalling - trhe ONLY reason they do that is to hide their identity when they are committing criminal acts. It shows a level of pre-meditation that is frankly disgusting

Ok... this is stinking worse and worse

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject