Originally Posted by
Double Trouble
Ian Tomlinson looks drunk and he's clearly just wandering around getting in the way. The policeman, who's clearly got the hump from already having a day from hell, shoves him out of the way and Ian loses his footing and falls over.
There's footage that makes it pretty clear Ian was also hit by a baton.
Ian then has a heart attack and dies.
Should he be charged with manslaughter? IMO, absolutely not!
What ever your opinion, the law is pretty clear on this. If it wasn't "reasonable force" (which I accept is open for debate), the charge should be manslaughter.
An argument I saw somewhere else:
Suppose there's a gang of us walking home from a football match. Our adrenaline's up, we want to get home. In front of us is a middle aged PC in poor health, dawdling and getting in the way. So I shove him from behind, and he falls to the ground and dies.
Does anyone want to seriously argue that a civilian wouldn't get charged with manslaughter/murder in that scenario?
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