new video footage shows police assaulting Tomlinson from behind

[louisiana]

Video on the Grauniad website.

He has his hands in his pockets and is walking away from them; gets thwacked from behind; hits the ground badly.

[????]

I think he gets pushed but is still an assault and outrageous

[louisiana]

Watch also for the slow-mo'd bit near the end, where it's a bit clearer what actually happened.

[macroban]

Is the case to answer manslaughter or murder?

[matthew123]

It's difficult to say as I am not sure if his head hit the ground. Looking at the video the guy seemed a little uneasy on his feet even before the confrontation so the assualt, which it definately was from the cowardly cop, may have been coincidental or at least that will be the case for the defence.

Anyone know what it said in the coroners report?

[LegalEagle-ish]

Murder is the charge if it was with intent but it can come back as a verdict of manslaughter - you can't charge manslaughter - well not actually true but the manslaughter would be gross negligence or unlawful act manslaughter - if the assualt, which is an unlawful act could be proved to have caused the death.

Edited cos I forgot my homicides!

[ruffers]

LegalEagle-ish Wrote:

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> Murder is the charge but it can come back as a

> verdict of manslaughter - you can't charge

> manslaughter.

You better tell this guy he can't get charged with manslaughter then http://www.birminghammail.net/news/top-stories/2009/03/30/man-charged-with-manslaughter-after-west-heath-pub-death-97319-23265554/

Re the video he was getting told in no uncertain terms to get out of the way repeatedly, he got a smack on the leg, then got a shove and fell over. Not sure how it can be shown this caused his death however unacceptable it may be.

[LegalEagle-ish]

Don't know why the guy in your link would be charged with manslaughter but maybe it would be hard to prove intent, but the policeman could be charged with gross negligence / unlawful act manslaughter.

But the manslaughter that most people think of is what you get when you have a defence to a murder charge and the murder charge gets dropped to voluntary manslaughter.

[Sherwick]

involuntary manslaughter.

[LegalEagle-ish]

Haha Yeh - made a balls up of that! Haven't had to remember that for a good few years.

[dulwichmum]

This is genuinely shocking.

[louisiana]

I don't know. We in the UK have a tradition of people dying at police hands at demonstrations etc.. (Old enough to remember Blair Peach? Or Kevin Gately? There have been others...)

What I can't stomach is the shit the police come out with afterwards. Can you see any officers helping the guy there? It's as if they have permission to treat people as non-human-beings.

These guys do not need more powers. Whatever they say.

Bizarrely, when the BBC was offered this footage by the Guardian yesterday, they turned it down saying it was London-centric, according to the Guardian's Stephen Moss.

[Domme_Jay]

It is all so sad, I wanted to go out over to the city but the thought of ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time detered me, I feel quite sad about that.

J

[Brendan]

Doesn?t anyone else think that this was all a muscle flexing exercise by the cops? They wanted to send a strong message that social dissidence will not be tolerated.

That?s why they effectively arrested thousands of people all in one go without proper cause and bugger the consequences.

They did the same thing yesterday on Parliament Square.

And why has the BBC been so quiet on the cops behaviour recently? Surely part of their duty to us the public is to inform us of potential threats to our current freedoms?

[dazeykat]

The saddest thing about this, I think, is that it doesn't even surprise me. That man wasn't rioting, or resisting. He wasn't even protesting!

[Jeremy]

BBC quiet on cops behaviour? Have you checked the main story on the BBC news site today?

I don't really buy this stuff about police sending out a message and crushing dissent... I think it's more a case of a few individuals being too heavy handed and "up for it", and of course these individuals need to be bought to justice.

There are a few bad seeds in the police - but overall I think they did a good job of making sure that the majority of the public could go about their business without too much disturbance, and minimising damage.

(cue Snorky...)

[Brendan]

I think after the Stop the War demonstrations* the powers that be realised that despite their better efforts the people of this country may actually find some kind of voice. The order must have come down from on high pretty quickly to discredit and disallow any possible chance of it happening in the future.

*Remember those when hundreds of thousands of ordinary people descended on London, completely peacefully, to object to their tax money being used to send men with guns and bombs overseas to kill thousands of innocent people?

[Brendan]

Not that I?m suspicious or anything.

[louisiana]

Jeremy Wrote:

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> BBC quiet on cops behaviour? Have you checked the

> main story on the BBC news site today?

Yesterday. They turned down the footage yesterday when it was offered.

They changed their tune this morning.

[citizenED]

Of the incident itself, it looks like a nasty piece of cowardly retribution. The officer is frustrated that the guy isn't getting out the way and takes action.

It's telling that none of the other officers remonstrate with the perpetrator.

[bigbadwolf]

Sort of ironic really how it takes an American fund manager to film and subsequently expose police brutality at an anti-capitalist demonstration.

[red devil]

The American failed to see the irony of course...

[Jeremy]

Would it have been ironic if he *did* see the irony, but nobody else did?

[red devil]

What, like when it rains on your wedding day?..

[Jeremy]

Or if it's a free ride, but you've...

...oh never mind.