An innocent man walks?

The face of innocence - PC Simon Harwood, a member of London's Finest

The innocent man who didn't walk was Ian Tomlinson, an alcoholic and occasional rough sleeper who held down a part time job as a newspaper vendor in the City of London. He was wearily minding his own business trying to wend his way home through police lines during protests at the G20 Summit in London on 1^st April 2009 when he his hit with a baton by PC Simon Harwood when he was walking away from the police and engaging in no threatening behaviour. He collapses in the street and dies. Days later on the fourth April the Metropolitan Police issue a statement saying the post-mortem examination shows he died of "natural causes."

PC Simon Harwood, 45, of south London, denied the manslaughter, in April 2009, of Mr Tomlinson, 47, on the grounds that he used reasonable force. Last year a Coroner’s Inquest ruled that Ian Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed by PC Harwood and his death (caused by haemorrhaging of his diseased liver and a heart attack of his diseased heart) was as a direct result of the Police assault.

Ian Tomlinson being helped by a member of the public just after he was assaulted

by PC Simon Harwood circled in the background. Police initially claimed they went to 

his assistance when he became ill and they had no previous contact with him

PC Simon Harwood who hit Ian Tomlinson with a baton and pushed him to the ground at the G20 protests has today been found not guilty of manslaughter. He had previously resigned from the Metropolitan Police (on medical grounds with a full pension as if he had completed 30 years service) to avoid facing serious disciplinary charges on a Friday and was reemployed through the Masonic back door as a civilian on the following Monday as a civilian computer operator. Less than two years later he is appointed as a uniformed PC by Surrey Police (no doubt his Brother Masons helped) and despite his previous record of violence towards a member of the public he rejoins the Met less than a year later joining the TSG (Territorial Support Group). They used to be known as The Riot Squad and who are universally referred to by their colleagues as “The Filth.”

Let us now pause and toy with a remarkable statistic. Despite over 1,000 people dying in police custody or due to police action since the late 1960s PC Simon Harwood is the first police officer to have been (unsuccessfully) charged with manslaughter. Ask yourself the simple question - what is the statistical possibility that these over 1,000 human beings who died in police custody or as a result of police action were all killed lawfully?

Ian Tomlinson being treated by Paramedics - Scotland Yard wrongly claimed 

on their website that police were pelted with rocks and glass as he was being treated 

- They later took down the claim

They include Blair Peach killed (according to the police’s own investigation) by a TSG member at an anti-racism demonstration in 1979, Jean Charles de Menezes shot with 3 bullets in the brain 5 years ago, Sean Rigg and Joy Gardiner who died in police stations and Harry Stanley, 46, from Hackney, East London, was shot in the head and the hand by the Met officers in 1999 carrying a chair leg in a plastic bag which the two officers thought was a sawn-off shot gun.

Let us think how it would have happened if it was the other way around? If a police officer had been assaulted by a protestor and died minutes later. Would there have been “mistakes” in collecting evidence which meant charges were time expired? Would they have waited 16 months to decide not to prosecute?

The police are paid from our taxes to protect us not to kill us. They must operate with our consent and within the Law and they must be held accountable.

For the full details of the assault on Ian Tomlinson and its aftermath see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/ian-tomlinson.html

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