Been following the case about the death of Mr Tomlinson.
Seen the footage and been following the evidence from BBC web site.
One thing is bothering me;
If the copper hit him with a baton across the back of his thigh and then pushed him from behind, how did that cause abdominal bleeding.
I know he fell and smacked his head, but head injuries arent the cause of death.

I dont want a debate on police brutality, but this case seems a bit odd

He was (from the limited attention I have paid) an alcoholic. He was pushed over with his hands in his pockets and landed hard / awkwardly. He then died from internal bleeding around his liver (I think they said that. Correct me if I’ve made it up).

If he had a fragile or bloated liver from alcohol abuse, it could have made it more probe to rupturing, no?

Not sure how any of the ‘proportionate force’ or ‘posed a threat’ defence lines can wash when he was clearly walking slowly away with his hands in his pockets!

Dave

Not sure how any of the ‘proportionate force’ or ‘posed a threat’ defence lines can wash when he was clearly walking slowly away with his hands in his pockets!

Indeed. The PC himself has admitted at the inquest that IT posed no threat. The CPS concluded that there was “sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of proving that the actions of PC ‘A’ in striking Mr Tomlinson with his baton and then pushing him over constituted an assault. ”

Due to discrepancies between PM results, the CPS decided they were unlikely to be able to prove that the strike and/or push caused IT’s death. Legal time limits meant they couldn’t prosecute for simple assault.

Full reasoning here. To be reconsidered at the conclusion of the inquest.

Absolute travesty. That no-one will ever be tried for causing that innocent man’s death is a disgrace, and a mockery of justice.

the CPS decided they were unlikely to be able to prove that the strike and/or push caused IT’s death

“Unlikely” ? Well probably not worth pursuing then. If the crime had been a bit more serious than merely killing a newspaper seller, then I guess the risk of failing to secure a conviction might have been worth taking.

That no-one will ever be tried for causing that innocent man’s death is a disgrace, and a mockery of justice.

Unfortunately the CPS was constrained by legal time limits. And initially they had very little evidence to go by, only a video of the whole incident, and independent witness.

Sometimes trauma from falls is enough to cause abdominal bleeds, if he was indeed an alcoholic then his clotting system will have been very poor so he would bleed pretty heavily.

Without know too many details it’s hard to say if the fall was enough for it to happen, also there was a considerable time difference so a lot could have happened between what was seen and what happened afterwards.

the original coroner did a nudge nudge wink wink favour for the.police as he’d possibly done several times before and. the police kindly let him take the fall by which time the actual cause of death could no longer be determined
met police killing an innocent. man and then colliding to cover it up and lying under oath. no where have we heard that before ?

Don’t matter alcoholic or not- he died as a result of injuries caused by being assaulted by a police officer.

He’s not the first, and won’t be the last, sadly.

Now now, Kimbers; how dare you besmirch the good name of Her Maj’s Finest?

Don’t matter alcoholic or not- he died as a result of injuries caused by being assaulted by a police officer.

Never said it mattered and I don’t know if the injuries that resulted from the incident lead to his death or not.

Elf – surely the only prosecution possible would have been for a minor assault tho?

Without know too many details it’s hard to say if the fall was enough for it to happen

It’s probably not too hard to establish whether he was unlawfully assaulted though – irrespective of what damage the assault caused. Very few people suggest that he wasn’t assaulted. In fact, does anyone deny it ?

Pc Harwood has been told he will not face any criminal prosecutions over what happened. A huge blunder imo, which will do the reputation of the police no good. Quite apart from the injustice of course.

we don’t know coz the dodgy coroner covered it up for the police in the first place

funny how not hitting a policeman with a fire extinguisher gets you sent down while actually killing someone gets you time in the naughty chair

gets you time in the naughty chair

And don’t forget – on full pay.

Elf – surely the only prosecution possible would have been for a minor assault tho?

Not when someone dies as a result.

Kimbers – I think you mean the original pathologist rather than coroner. Patel was his name I think, plenty of info came out afterwards suggesting that he should never have been allowed near a PM.
Ernie – agreed. I’ve only read the BBC coverage of the inquest, but PC Haywood has so far failed to justify the level of force used as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never really been convinced that the CPS logic of only running cases they think they’re likely to win is right either. Financially logical, probably. Just, no, not always. This one deserved to go to court I think. Probably wouldn’t get a murder or manslaughter conviction, the PM cock ups are a gift to the defence, but who knows? At the very least for the sake of his family and public confidence in the criminal justice system.

Elfinsafety – Member

“Elf – surely the only prosecution possible would have been for a minor assault tho?”

Not when someone dies as a result.

What you going to charge him with then?

Manslaughter?

At the very least for the sake of his family and public confidence in the criminal justice system.

Yup. If there had been a prosecution and conviction then I reckon the police’s reputation would have remained intact, enhanced even maybe. But I guess the CPS aren’t that bothered about such considerations. And of course his family and all who were close to him deserve to see justice.

Doubt it elf – I really don’t see that it meets the standard for manslaughter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manslaughter_in_English_law#Manslaughter_by_gross_negligence

Causing death through recklessness or criminal negligence.

Your link supports this, TJ.

I’m not going to argue with you over this though cos life is just too short.

If you think it’s not manslaughter then ok fine as long as your happy.

OK?

TJ – manslaughter by unlawful act would be more relevant than manslaughter by gross negligence I think.

Here’s the CPS page, might be the source of some of the wikipedia info, I don’t know. CPS

In this case, I think they would have a high chance of proving the act was unlawful, and a low chance of proving the act caused death, due to the aforementioned reasons. That seems to be the conclusion they came to.

Off to bed.

Manslaughter by unlawful act.

I think they would have a high chance of proving the act was unlawful, and a low chance of proving the act caused death

Really? Why? The question is whether the act did or did not cause death, not whether it was likely to cause death, surely? Or am I misunderstanding what you’re saying?

tHe whole episode stinks, from the actual assault, through to the lack of anyone being punished. Wonder if the copper involved had many sleepless nights….

Is anyone actually surprised that it happened, that’s the question!

There was an initial attempt to cover it up at the beginning if you remember with the police claiming he’d had no contact with officers until someone whispered ‘mobile phones and CCTV’ in their ears.

This man was killed by the police, he may have had existing medical issues that hastened his demise, but the truth is plain for all to see.

The police have got away with it – AGAIN

Is it any wonder people don’t trust them?

Not much of a suprise really,is it? Maybe it might have been different if it was not IT. As it is,pep talk to the policeman in question and desk duties for a while no doubt.

Konabunny, possibly a misunderstanding, yes. You are correct, they have to prove that the act DID cause the death, not PROBABLY caused the death. What I meant was that the prosecution are unlikely to be able to prove that the act definitely caused the death, due to the conflicting pathologist’s opinions. I didn’t mean that it was unlikely that the act caused the death.

What is really amazing is that the cop has been claiming at the inquest that Tomlinson was walking towards him, when the video shows, plain as day, that he was walking away. When testimony is so completely and utterly at odds with the facts, even when there is clear video evidence, what hope is there that cops tell the truth under ANY circumstances?

This man was killed by the police, he may have had existing medical issues that hastened his demise, but the truth is plain for all to see.

How do you come to that conclusion then as those who did post mortems and other examinations couldn’t say for sure?

How do you come to that conclusion then as those who did post mortems and other examinations couldn’t say for sure

from the beeb:

‘The second pathologist to examine Mr Tomlinson, Dr Nat Cary, tells the Guardian he has “no doubt” that the push from the police officer caused his fatal haemorrhage. “He was vulnerable to this because of the liver disease he had,” Dr Cary says.’

‘A third post-mortem examination is ordered at the request of the Metropolitan Police. It later agrees with the conclusions of the second.’

Oh! 😳

I guess I’ve haven’t been following this as close as thought. You have my apology.

Never said it mattered and I don’t know if the injuries that resulted from the incident lead to his death or not.

I think there is something in law called eggshell syndrome or similar. The jist of it as I understand it was that if you hit someone with a blow that normal would cause only a minor injury but unknown to you they have a medical complaint which means that such a blow causes death then you are still liable for murder. You have effectively taken that risk when striking the person. It makes no difference that IT was perhaps more vulnerable to internal bleeding due to his alcohol abuse the fall resulted in the bleed.

The thing that still dosent add up for me is the abdominal blow the coroner refers to.
If that caused the death then this copper didnt appear from what I can see to have caused the death.
on the BBC website witnesses state that Tomlinson had been hit by officers, so are there are a number of police officers who need to be on trial,
Did Tomlinson get hit again either before or after this push to cause the injury?

When testimony is so completely and utterly at odds with the facts, even when there is clear video evidence, what hope is there that cops tell the truth under ANY circumstances?

Well you would have thought the fact that lying under oath is an offence, was sufficient guarantee that coppers don’t lie. Although I won’t be holding my breath whilst I wait to see if Pc Harwood gets done for perjury. Despite the fact even MPs aren’t above the law and can get custodial sentences when they lie under oath to cover up their actions.

The second pathologist concluded that there was abdominal trauma from Ian Tomlinson’s elbow hitting his abdomen near the liver when he fell.

Wasn’t the first pathologist the disgraced Freddy Patel? The same chap who has subsequently been suspending pending further investigation on an unrelated case, who had falsified his own CV and has been criticized thus:

“irresponsible, not of the standard expected of a competent forensic pathologist and liable to bring the medical profession into disrepute”.

So on the back of his evidence, and despite the following two pathologists having ‘no doubt’ that the cause of death was the decking he got… that was filmed, the copper still can’t be prosecuted because of a technicality of in the statute of limitations on assault.

Stitch up. Remind me again why the general public should obey the law?

Problem is, both the second and third post mortems based their conclusions on a mistake in the first. They both made their conclusions on the fluid found in the body, neither pathologist actually saw that fluid though.

In his first report, Dr Patel reported that he had found “intraabdominal fluid blood about 3l with small blood clot.” This had been interpreted by the other medical experts to mean that he had found 3 litres of blood in the abdomen.

If Dr Patel had found 3 litres of blood, this would have been approximately 60% of Mr Tomlinson’s blood volume and would have been a highly significant indicator of the cause of death.

However, when Dr Patel provided a further report on 6 April 2010, he recorded that he had found “intraabdominal fluid with blood about 3l with small blood clot”. Since Dr Cary and Dr Shorrock inevitably depended on Dr Patel’s notes of this finding to inform their own opinions, the significance of this more recent description of Dr Patel’s findings had to be clarified with Dr Patel and discussed with the other experts.

Dr Patel was seen twice in conference by the prosecution team. Dr Patel maintained that the total fluid was somewhat in excess of three litres but that it was mainly ascites (a substance which forms in a damaged liver), which had been stained with blood. He had not retained the fluid nor had he sampled it in order to ascertain the proportion of blood because, he said, he had handled blood all his professional life and he knew that this was not blood but blood-stained ascites.

Dr Patel also confirmed that he had found no internal rupture which would have led to such a level of blood loss.

(b) For Mr Tomlinson’s death to have occurred from blood loss so quickly, there would have to have been an internal rupture of some significance.

(c) Dr Patel found no internal rupture which would have led to such a level of blood loss.

(d) At the later post mortems there was no visible sign of a rupture.

Did Tomlinson get hit again either before or after this push to cause the injury?

Sancho, I’m not following this too closely but I think they were saying he fell badly after the push with his hands tucked in his pockets so he in effect caused his own abdominal injury.

Pretty shocking when you can replay that video and the copper is still adamant he didn’t have his back to him…

they were saying he fell badly after the push with his hands tucked in his pockets so he in effect caused his own abdominal injury.

The push by PC Harwood is what made Ian Tomlinson fall over. Tomlinson did not cause “his own abdominal injury”, PC Harwood caused the injuries.

It’s a bit like arguing “M’lord, yes I pulling the trigger, but the victim should have ducked to avoid the bullet and is therefore responsible for his own injuries”.

The video shows that he stood no chance of remaining upright after the push. It also shows that his hands were out of his pockets as he started going over, and were in front of his body well before he hit the ground. The ‘hands in the pocket issue’ is therefore irrelevant.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADd_6ISHLdg[/video]

PC Harwood would have been fully aware of the certain outcome of pushing an aware person from behind like that, ie, they will hit the deck and injure themselves.

hadn’t watched that footage for a while… watching it again, I only have one question – seriously HOW THE F*CK can PC Harwood be getting away with this?? It’s making me rather angry… 👿

I remember a lot of talk on here at the time about how the guy deserved it, shouldn’t have been there in the first place, asking for trouble etc etc