Last night, I came across this on iGoogle news alerter.
Some 25 years after Blair Peach died from a blow to the back of the head in his own front garden - an incident which led to the disbanding of the SPG but no prosecutions of any policemen - I can't tell you how disappointed I am to find that the police force still includes people who believe that the ordinary rules of society do not apply to them simply because they wear a police uniform.
It's not clear exactly what did happen to Ian Tomlinson, but it seems clear beyond peradventure that whatever it was, was gratuitous. None of the policemen in the video seem to be under any threat at all; there are hardly any other people near to them; Tomlinson seems to be being less-than-cooperative but he has his back to them and his hands in his pockets.
Speaking as a lawyer, I cannot see how this can be anything less than common assault on the part of at least one policeman. Common assault leading to death is murder. Obviously, there are evidential issues of establishing whether the heart attack was brought on by the assault, and that would certainly be an important question. But if it were ---
It will be a mortal shame on our country, on the City of London, and on our government, if we do not, in due course, see that police officer on trial for whatever crime the CPS determines he has committed.
There's a link - on the page that incorporates the video - to an article by Duncan Campbell, titled "De Menezes taught Met nothing". One of the comments to the article says "On the contrary, de Menezes taught the Met that it can get away with murder." While instinctively I recoil from that statement, it's hard to shake off the feeling that it isn't entirely incorrect.
I really am quite disheartened. Yet another instance in which I have to face the fact that the progress I thought we were making in our effort to create a civlised society isn't going so well even in my own country.
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