The police officer over reacted and I have said that from the very start but having just watched the CCTV footage I can understand it as a human. He was not in a position to think rationally.
Sorry, can i flag the elephant in the room here - independently verified CCTV footage shows a serving police officer kicking a prone member of the public (who was prone because he had been tasered) IN THE HEAD, and then stamping on his thigh.
Am i the only person on here who thinks that is unacceptable in this country, irrespective of the preceding events and the ethnicity of the person who was kicked?
Sorry, can i flag the elephant in the room here - independently verified CCTV footage shows a serving police officer kicking a prone member of the public (who was prone because he had been tasered) IN THE HEAD, and then stamping on his thigh.
Am i the only person on here who thinks that is unacceptable in this country, irrespective of the preceding events and the ethnicity of the person who was kicked?
No, you're not. However, those in that camp have clearly identified themselves as people that have never been in a fight or flight situation, been attacked, or had their life at risk. It isn't the real world to just switch off and give in when there is still some chance the threat isn't extinguished, all while 10 tons of adrenaline runs through your system.
Seconds before this they were fighting for their lives. The police were rightly cleared in this situation.
Of course we will never know, but I think if it wasn't for the level of backlash, we may have seen a different outcome to be honest. What started out as witch-hunt on the police officers became quite a long and awkward silence.
The two tier thing is a very long and complicated matter which I have no doubt could fill another hundred pages on this forum. One of the biggest arguments for this particular case was that the rioters (and people saying naughty words online) were being expedited to prison, whilst this case has taken six months to come to a head. That might be normal process usually, but I think it is fair to say the latter incident and the handling of it was pouring petrol on the fire of the situation at the time. It was certainly of mass public interest and being used an excuse for people to misbehave.
We might not hear the end of this anyway, as any sentencing will probably be quite low level given the charge appears to be ABH they are running with. Looks like there's a few high profile court cases within a few days coming up in January, that all coincides with Trump entering the White House as well. Buzzing!
I think it's far more likely that because it's so high profile they wanted to be extra careful that everything was in place to get a conviction - no chance of getting off on a technicality etc.
Imagine they'd waded in and charged them immediately then later on some problem with paperwork or evidence meant they weren't convicted? You'd have the two thugs out on the streets, and they'd probably end up suing for damages and undoubtedly there'd be further accusations that the whole thing was racially motivated. So people on all sides would lose faith in the CPS. It'd potentially even make others think they could try their luck and put other people and officers in danger.
It's something they really, really have to get absolutely right and taking time to ensure that is understandable. I was never under any doubt they wouldn't be charged eventually.