Two police officers are on sick leave after being attacked by a mob in south London after they asked a 15-year-old girl to pick up her litter.With this article, giving a better description of the 'mob' (Ed - Have I mentioned how much I love the new media?):
One officer was dragged to the ground and kicked while the other was bitten by a girl who jumped on his back.
Up to 30 people took part in the attack, which happened in North End, Croydon, on Wednesday afternoon.
A violent mob attacked two police officers after they asked a teenage girl to pick up a piece of litter.And then with this article:
The incident occurred near to the Woolworths and Burger King in North End, central Croydon, at about 3pm on Wednesday.
It started when the unarmed male officers on patrol saw a teenage girl drop a fast food wrapper from a nearby takeaway and asked her to pick it up. She did so but immediately dropped it on the ground again.
They then separated the girl from a 15-year-old girl with her who was being noisy and unco-operative.
When the officers asked her again to pick it up her friend became aggressive towards them.
......
A group of people then gathered around the officers and intimidated and attacked them. It is believed the crowd grew to about 30 people, made up of male and female teenagers and adults, with more people watching.
Police said all suspects were black.
Inspector Simon Ellingham said officers were examining CCTV footage from the area.Now, several things occur to me.
He said: “We have heard from several retailers in the area who were horrified at the level of violence used by the crowd against the officers.
“Whilst we would never use the word 'mob' which is an inflammatory word, we can confirm that eye witnesses have described their initial fear that officers were going to be seriously injured or killed.”
Given that the police are appealing for eyewitnesses, why is the BBC so keen to avoid any kind of desciption of the mob?
And I think now we can see why the police are so keen to harass these people instead when it comes to litter.
And thirdly, when your officers have just been beaten and abused by an out of control mob, cavilling at the accurate description of them so as not to offend them isn't going to win you many friends, either among your officers, or among the members of the public.
Hat-tip: Staybryte, in the comments here.
When I heard news of this on the BBC news I said to Mrs U that I would bet that the perps were black. She said that such an instant reaction was quite unjustified. She reminded me of a knifing incident (the Mizen stabbing) where I'd said the same thing and some time later it turned out that the alleged perp wasn't black but Turkish.
ReplyDeleteNow, the problem I'm creeping towards is this: I am informed that in a known black area of London a mob (sorry!) attacks 2 policemen to defend 2 mouthy 15-year old girls. If, on the basis of those facts alone, I assume that the mob and the girls are all (or largely) black, am I (a) being racist or (b) just using common sense to come to a conclusion which is unwelcome to the BBC? Or is there a third alternative?
Naturally if they had of been for instance, white skinheads there would have been a full disclosure, possibly with the opinion that they should be strung up.
ReplyDelete"am I (a) being racist or (b) just using common sense.."
ReplyDeleteI think the latter!
It transpires that one of the police officers is also black, so that should nip in the bud any of the usual suspects' attempts to cry 'racism'.
"Police said all suspects were black."
ReplyDeleteThanks Mr. P, this fact wasn't mentioned in the MSM that I saw, but that question briefly crossed my mind before I self censored myself and banged my head against the wall as punishment.
It's nice to get the full story, and increasingly the only place to get it is on a blog.