Many people pointed out that, had they attempted to wade in, they'd probably have been nicked themselves. It was pooh-poohed, of course.
And yet...
District Judge Daniel Curtis said Crompton went beyond his public duty and his sentence sent out the message that a police officer is not "beyond the law".
Crompton was given a 12-month community order, 150 hours of unpaid work, told to pay costs of £1,500 and £500 in compensation to his victim.Crompton wasn't on duty at the time.
District Judge Curtis said: "On the Sunday before Christmas, staff at Winteringham Fields were taken out by Colin McGurran for some drinks as a thanks for their hard work.
"They had been in the Bay Horse public house from 4.30pm onwards.
"At around 8.30pm, Colin Crompton and his wife arrived at the Bay Horse as they wanted a quiet drink.
"They decided to move on to the Ferry Boat. The Winteringham Fields group stayed for about an hour longer before moving on to the Ferry Boat as they did not want to disturb the quiz night."
Witnesses had described the atmosphere in the pub as "tense" and a series of minor disagreements took place. It was at this point Mr Oades was asked to leave the pub by the landlady. Moments later, he tried to return through a side entrance that was being blocked by the defendant.
Judge Curtis said: "Colin McGurran told staff to finish their drinks and leave.
"Thomas Oades felt a tug on him by the defendant who told him to get out.
"He was grabbed by Crompton, who had both hands around his neck and the victim found it hard to breathe."
He added: "You slammed the young man down on a wall and repeatedly punched him,"
He suffered swelling and bruising to both eyes, dried blood under the nostrils, swelling to his mouth, and red marking to his arms, neck and shoulders.Off-duty cop assists landlady in removing drunken troublesome youth. Gets accused of excessive violence. Will now probably lose his job.
Now, still expect members of the public to wade in?
A bit confused whom we're meant to be supporting here. Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteBrings to mind the words of Churchill as he tactically observed war in Eastern Europe. "One should never interfere with enemies while they are in the process of annihilating each other."
ReplyDeleteOh dear! The poor abused youth must have been someone's darling son? Probably one of the local magistrates.
ReplyDeleteLet us face it....getting involved in this sort of thing is a lottery where the two options are a) your help will be unrewarded b)you will be nicked. Who needs that?
Rule 1. There is no situation which cannot be made worse by the arrival of the police.
Rule 2. They will be looking for someone to nick.
Rule 3. When you say : "I hit him because...." they will only hear : "I hit him" and get you to write it down and sign it. Kerching!
No. Best to let modern Britain just slide on by...
ReplyDeleteI'll post this here, if you don't mind Julia; it's a few notes on the vid at Constable Chaos' blog as it may not :
It's all there:
1) black man in possession of drugs with intent to supply;
2) the barely comprehensible black dialect;
3) the barely comprehensible PC dialect - a succession of grunts, short sentences and, as panic sets in, the choice words;
4) the abundance of shaven heads (passers-by and PC);
5) the abundance of tattoos (passers-by, onlookers and PCs);
6) the Polish shop;
7) the distinctly odd and creepy straight jeans-and-long hair-equals-androgeny sporting clutch of indigenes on the corner as the police car turns
8) the assortment of Asians and various shades of foreigner standing around snapping away and chattering on phones;
9) the chewing gum-spattered pavements;
10) the black inspector with a clipboard (you know what I'm thinking and can you blame me);
11) the reality TV crew and that oh-so-irritating voice of the narrator, who manages to encapsulate every last pathetic and depressing nuance of modern Britain.
Something very bad has happened to Britain since around 1995 (it didn't begin there).
Remembering that just because someone is acting wrongly you can't use more force than is necessary is what it's about.
ReplyDeleteEven if someone is an obnoxious scrote who has kicked off due to the drink, strangling and repeated punching, which the court choose to believe is what had happened, it seems, was wrong.
The traffic officers might have appreciated someone trying to hold a leg, at one point trying to get the man down though the driver officer managed it fairly quickly, and if i had joined in, in a cloud of gas, would he have feared me as wanting to help the suspect?
As to the comments on the other site about what if they were single crewed, the man was known to them, the vehicle to be searched was parked and if the suspect had legged it, the police would be able to find him after searching the vehicle.
BertEBassett
An off duty cop once got involved in a fight in our local about five minutes after the staff and locals had sorted everything.
ReplyDeleteHe was a proper tosser, I nearly smacked him one myself.
We had never seen him before and didn't see him again.
Sometimes coppers can be too full of their own importance when they're on the drink.
Screw him - he's a dick. I've not been on any police training courses but i'm sure it's pretty high up in the manual to only punch them whilst in the transit van and, yer know, not in a full boozer.
ReplyDelete"A bit confused whom we're meant to be supporting here."
ReplyDelete;)
"Oh dear! The poor abused youth must have been someone's darling son?"
Oh, they always are...
"Something very bad has happened to Britain since around 1995 (it didn't begin there)."
You aren't wrong.
"Even if someone is an obnoxious scrote who has kicked off due to the drink, strangling and repeated punching, which the court choose to believe is what had happened, it seems, was wrong. "
ReplyDeleteIf repeated punching is what's needed to get control, punch away!
"An off duty cop once got involved in a fight in our local about five minutes after the staff and locals had sorted everything."
Ah, a back-office staffer, perhaps?
"..but i'm sure it's pretty high up in the manual to only punch them whilst in the transit van and, yer know, not in a full boozer."
LOL!