Footage shows Pc Jonathan Marsh and a female colleague speaking to Rasike Attanayake, who reported that a drunken man had smashed a notice board outside his audiology practice in Romford, Essex. The officers begin to walk in the direction that Mr Attanayake had given them, only for their colleague to then tell them over the radio that he was the suspect.
Ooops!
They handcuff Mr Attanayake who pleads that he was the one who called them, as PC Marsh tells him to 'get on the f***ing floor now' and throws him to the ground.
The clip, released by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) shows Mr Attanayake saying 'please can you not do that' before PC Marsh then punches him in the head and restrains him further.
And when did it become clear they had the wrong man? When the voices came again:
Within just ten minutes, the officers were informed that Mr Attanayake was not the suspect. Less than an hour later, he called police to make a formal complaint against the officers.
I'm only surprised that took so long!
Giving evidence PC Marsh, a former prison officer at HMP Chelmsford, told the court the force he used was proportionate and necessary.
Well, yes, but unfortunately, it wasn't the right man, was it?
The trial ran out of time and will resume on January 29.
One to watch.
H/T:SadButMadLad via Twitter
And people wonder why the public lose respect for the police?
ReplyDeleteYet again Plod showing contempt for the public. Its a minority of bad officers spoiling it for all the rest though. Definitely not that they have a Little Hitler complex. Oh no, doing the best job they can in difficult circumstances.
ReplyDeleteThe defendant: just another unsuitable incompetent copper.
ReplyDeleteThe plaintiff: (The court heard how he compared his treatment to that of George Floyd, the black man whose murder by a white police officer sparked worldwide protests.)
'I thought I was going to die because I could not breathe, it was the same thing', he said.
And there my sympathy strangely evaporated.
"And people wonder why the public lose respect for the police?"
ReplyDeleteI used to wonder...
"Its a minority of bad officers spoiling it for all the rest though."
I used to believe that...
"And there my sympathy strangely evaporated."
Heh! Mine too.