G20 heartattack

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Anyone following the story about the g20 riots in london and the police 'attack' of an 'innocent' man?

Ian Tomlinson died of a heartattack 3 minutes after being forcefully pushed away from a police barricade in london.

the newspapers love this kind of thing, anything they can do to undermine the police, the guardian has been on the forefront of this incident putting the blame for the heart attack on the police officer who pushed him, claiming that he was an innocent man walking home when he was attacked by police officers.
heres their vid of the incident (which in my opinion isnt very good because it misses events due to being pointed at the floor or people moving in front of it)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/07/g20-police-assault-video

so, why would the police officer shove him? the police dont generally waste their time following people who havent done anything and then hitting them with their batons before shoving them to the ground. Why did the camera operator turn the camera to the event when he was clearly filming an interview? was there alot of shouting going on? had he seen something happen which prompted him to turn the camera?

I paint a different picture.

Ian Tomlinson had known problems with alcoholism, the events prior to the video are sketchy at best, the guardian relying on conflicting witness statements, all we do know for sure from CCTV footage is his route.

He takes a deliberate route into the protest areas, where he is turned away from 2 of the larger police barricades he is obviously intoxicated, he then makes his way up the Royal Exchange Passage, where he attempts to force his way through the barricade at the end of the street, he then gestures at the officers who tell him to walk away, and puts his hands in his pockets, he arches his back towards the officers and walks very slowly away from the officers, this prompts the officers to follow him and move their barricade to the bank of england, he is again told to walk away you can see several officers surround him and give him small pushes, to which he doesn't respond the officer in question then strikes him correctly in the fleshy area at the top of the back of the leg and then gives him a large shove, being that Tomlinson is drunk he falls like a sack of s**t. He has words which cannot be heared with the officers, and then walks off.

Later he suffers a heartattack, brought on due to alcoholism.

 

If the heart attack didn't occur on the spot, but rather sometime later in the day, it seems absurd to attribute the pushing by police officers or a baton to the back of the leg on the heart attack. Even if he suffered the heart attack on the spot, the link would still be iffy at best.

 

These protestors and the pathetic networks who support them will do anything to garner attention for their causes.I have zero respect for their behaviour and fully believe that the police actions in removing him from the area had nothing to do with his later death.

However, the guy is still a human and it is sad that he died. I feel that sadness for him because there is no evidence that he was a hardened criminal of any sort. No one like that deserves to go through the pain of a heart attack.

The people using his death as a rallying point for their protests should be ashamed of themselves.

 

As Clint Eastwood quipped in Unforgiven, " 'Deserves' got nothing to do with it."

Thousands of people who aren't criminals of any sort have heart attacks every day. I feel no more sorry for this guy than any of the others.

 

My point was that I think the guy is an idiot but I'm not so cold as to not care that he he had a heart attack. I feel as much sympathy for him as I would for anyone I heard about who died of a heart attack.

 

I agree that any person dieing of a heart attack is very saddening. The police rushed to his assistance when he collapsed only to be pelted with bottles and debris, also the ambulance was obstructed purposefully by protestors.

The guardians coverage makes my blood boil, I tried to make a similar comment on their site but it was removed by a moderator, so much for unbias reporting huh?

This police officers life is being ruined simply for doing his job.

 

I think the truth will out. The Guardian doesn't appear to be a reputable newssource (perhaps I'm wrong) but this sort of muckraking doesn't usually stand up to honest scrutiny -- not that the journalists in question care -- they just want to sell papers.

 

the Guardian is one of the mainstream broadsheet news papers in the UK

 

It's got a reputation as one of the more left wing papers.

 

It does that, yes, it is always know for being bias against authority.

I just wonder what will happen when the next riot... sorry 'protest' takes place in london, and all of the shops and land marks are smashed up by rioters... sorry, protestors, because the police do nothing.

Who will get the blame then... the police of course, the officers who are too afraid to take action because it could cost them their jobs may do nothing, and get blamed either way..

I feel so sorry for the police, fighting the impossible fight.

 

You're bang on, Shoshino -- believe me the London Police are not the only ones who get the shaft both ways -- everyone wants the police to protect them, but when they actually deal with a citizen who is acting inappropriately, they get jumped on and called fascists. It's reprehensible, it truly is.

 

I think one of the problems comes from public ignorance, they don't really know the job of the police and the methods used. In this instance the police are conducting crowd control - people need to understand that the police are incharge and it is their job to use force to control the crowd, they tell you to back off, you back off - or you get it

 

Unfortunately, Shoshino, I think the problem lies entirely with the media presenting the case and not at all with public education. The way that video is presented, it made me somewhat suspicious of the police. It's specifically designed to provoke anger against the police and portray the 'victim' as an innocent bystandard.

 

NOG, I agree with you 99%, however, I still think there is a lack of public understanding about the police and their role.