Policeman cleared ( what a shock )

[User removed 4]

BBC News - Wiltshire policeman cleared of assault on appeal

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

its plain to see who's fault it was

 

[Greyrun]

Caught red handed on C.C.V and still gets off,sad day for the legal system.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

she possibly hit her head on the door frame

 

[Collar Feeler]

 

[severnside gull]

at least his employers show no signs of backing down in their intention to sack him and to make the disciplinary process public. Hopefully the police force will have more integrity than the courts.

Shameful

 

[Superphil]

Caught red handed on C.C.V and still gets off,sad day for the legal system.

Exactly, she should have had the book thrown at her. She was aquitted due to lack of evidence?? One minute she can't (won't) walk, the next minute she is sprinting out of the cell? So just remember, she is still driving around the countryside, quite possibly so pissed she can't walk, oh, and she didn't even get fined for failing to give a breath test. Jesus, and the copper got put in jail for that, disgrace.

 

[crasher]

at least his employers show no signs of backing down in their intention to sack him and to make the disciplinary process public. Hopefully the police force will have more integrity than the courts.

Shameful

What's the betting he retires early on "health grounds" with full pension before this can happen?

Police have one of the most difficult jobs in the world but this is a disgrace.

 

[Collar Feeler]

at least his employers show no signs of backing down in their intention to sack him and to make the disciplinary process public. Hopefully the police force will have more integrity than the courts.

Shameful

Its difficult to see how his chief constable can back down from these comments:

From BBC website -

Following his conviction, Assistant Chief Constable Patrick Geenty said he was "a disgrace" to the force and added: "There is no place in Wiltshire Police for an officer like this."

Mr Geenty said at the time he fully supported the comments of the trial judge, Deputy District Judge Peter Greenfield, who said the officer had "presided over an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation upon Ms Somerville".

I'm surprised at this outcome to say the least but without sufficient evidence I guess you can't get a conviction. CCTV on its own is not sufficient and it seems the court accepted his explanation that he did not mean to do it. I've seen plenty of people clearly guilty of offences end up getting off because of such a lack of evidence, I guess this copper used the same tried and tested defences others use when faced with a similar situation.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

It's the vile old bag at fault, just lucky she didn't kill someone that night. Black eye? oh Boo Hoo!

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

Its difficult to see how his chief constable can back down from these comments:

From BBC website -

Following his conviction, Assistant Chief Constable Patrick Geenty said he was "a disgrace" to the force and added: "There is no place in Wiltshire Police for an officer like this."

Mr Geenty said at the time he fully supported the comments of the trial judge, Deputy District Judge Peter Greenfield, who said the officer had "presided over an atmosphere of bullying and intimidation upon Ms Somerville".

I'm surprised at this outcome to say the least but without sufficient evidence I guess you can't get a conviction. CCTV on its own is not sufficient and it seems the court accepted his explanation that he did not mean to do it. I've seen plenty of people clearly guilty of offences end up getting off because of such a lack of evidence, I guess this copper used the same tried and tested defences others use when faced with a similar situation.

yep, if you can't "beat" them join them

 

[whitelion]

This reminds me of a couple of high-profile cases that happened in the USA.

 

[Pretty pink fairy]

This reminds me of a couple of high-profile cases that happened in the USA.

 

[Collar Feeler]

yep, if you can't "beat" them join them

Seems that way doesn't it? I'm sure his misconduct hearing will dredge up a number of other matters that will end up with him resigning or getting the boot. I've seen it happen so many times, if the job want you out they will find a way to stitch you up. I am confident he won't have a job at the end of all this.

It's worth pointing out to those who say she deserved it, she didn't. Just because she was pissed and abusive and difficult doesn't mean she deserved this:

Police officers should be above reacting to prisoners who are causing problems and most of us are most of the time. Christ If I reacted to every difficult prisoner I ever had I would have made many of them 'knock their heads on the doorframe accidently'. You just grow a thick skin and take it, end of.

 

[NMH]

Seems that way doesn't it? I'm sure his misconduct hearing will dredge up a number of other matters that will end up with him resigning or getting the boot. I've seen it happen so many times, if the job want you out they will find a way to stitch you up. I am confident he won't have a job at the end of all this.

It's worth pointing out to those who say she deserved it, she didn't. Just because she was pissed and abusive and difficult doesn't mean she deserved this:

Police officers should be above reacting to prisoners who are causing problems and most of us are most of the time. Christ If I reacted to every difficult prisoner I ever had I would have made many of them 'knock their heads on the doorframe accidently'. You just grow a thick skin and take it, end of.

It's good to know YOU feel this way about it.
Sadly the job attracts a lot of rock-ape bully boys who don't think, or DO think they have a right to give it the physical on all comers just because of the uniform.

 

[Collar Feeler]

It's good to know YOU feel this way about it.
Sadly the job attracts a lot of rock-ape bully boys who don't think, or DO think they have a right to give it the physical on all comers just because of the uniform.

I think the job does attract some of that type but not as many as you think. I think some forces you may have MET are worse than others in that respect also. Unfortunately it only takes one of these type of coppers to screw up and we all get tarred with the same brush from the publicity of it all much like any other profession I think. Comes with the job I suppose but it it does make you despair a little when one of your own makes us all look like complete tossers.

 

[whitelion]

Only the consequences were just a tad more serious:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2119943.stm

Flashback: Rodney King and the LA riots


The videotaped beating shocked the world

The videotape of the violent arrest of 16-year-old Donovan Jackson by Los Angeles police has reawakened uncomfortable memories of another assault on a black motorist.
In 1991, footage of Rodney King being beaten by four police officers while others looked on caused outrage around the world, and was a major factor in triggering serious rioting in the city a year later.


Rodney King was badly injured in the beating


Now there are fears that the latest incident could again ignite Los Angeles' simmering racial tensions.

King's white Hyundai car was stopped by traffic officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) after a high-speed chase on 3 March 1991.

King, whose friends "Pooh" Allen and Freddie Helms were also in the vehicle, had been drinking and was behaving erratically.

Beating

Ordering him out of the car, four officers Laurence Powell, Timothy Wind, Theodore Briseno and Stacey Koon, beat Mr King repeatedly with their batons.


Sergeant Stacey Koon later received a 30 month jail term


The LAPD claimed the officers had acted in self-defence to restrain King, who they said was aggressive and resisting arrest.

Other officers present did not intervene. Rodney King suffered a fractured skull and internal injuries in the attack.

The incident was caught on camera by George Holliday, a manager of a plumbing company, whose apartment was close by.

Within a day, the tape was running on news networks around the world, focusing international attention on the apparent brutality of the LAPD.

Four days later, Los Angeles County District Attorney dismissed all charges against King. On 15 March, the four police officers were charged with assault.

However, a grand jury later refused to indict 17 other officers who had witnessed the beating.

Backlash

In July 1991, an independent commission ordered to investigate the LAPD delivered a damning verdict.

Its report documented what it described as the systematic use of excessive force and institutionalised racism. The commission recommended the resignation of police chief Daryl Gates.


Widespread broke out erupted after the trial


In Autumn 1991, the lenient sentence handed to a Korean-American convenience store assistant convicted of shooting dead a young black woman further heightened racial tensions.

The spark came in April 1992, when all four officers in the Rodney King case were cleared of assault. Within hours, violence erupted across the city's black neighbourhoods.

Fifty-five people were killed in several days of rioting, looting and retaliatory attacks against whites and Asians. About 2,000 people were injured, and another 12,000 arrested.

More than $1bn worth of property was damaged and the National Guard was deployed to help police restore order.

A year later, the four acquitted police officers faced a second trial on federal charges of violating Rodney King's civil rights.

Stacey Koon and Laurence Powell were found guilty and received 30 month jail terms; Timothy Wind and Theodore Briseno were cleared.

Rodney King won a $3.8m damages from the City of Los Angeles. He used some of the money to found a rap record business, Alta-Pazz Recording Company.

 

[bhaexpress]

It's good to know YOU feel this way about it.
Sadly the job attracts a lot of rock-ape bully boys who don't think, or DO think they have a right to give it the physical on all comers just because of the uniform.

To be fair they are the minority and frankly the Police are far better 'policed' than in years gone by.

 

[Common as Mook]

It's good to know YOU feel this way about it.
Sadly the job attracts a lot of rock-ape bully boys who don't think, or DO think they have a right to give it the physical on all comers just because of the uniform.

How's the stewarding going?.....

 

[Buzzer]

How's the stewarding going?.....

Oh, well played sir.