Brute force - three police officers beat up handcuffed Iraq war veteran

[Nostalgia]

The pictures of police brutality that will shock all of Britain.



THESE shameful and inexcusable scenes show a war hero who served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan fearing for his life amid a violent and unprovoked assault by police.


Video here

Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall – highly praised by his commanding officer for bravery against the Taliban in Afghanistan – was set upon by three uniformed officers on his home town High Street.

The sickening attack – caught in forensic detail on CCTV – led a crown court judge to label it one of the worst examples of police aggression he had ever seen. Yet, in a travesty of justice, it was Mark who was at first convicted by magistrates of attacking the policemen.. despite the video footage clearly showing he was the victim.

Last night, Mark, 24, who had 14 head and face injuries, said: “I was scared for my life. I was being battered and my head was being pushed into the ground.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to die here. I can’t believe I’ve survived Afghanistan and Iraq and and now I’m going to die on this main road in my home town at the hands of the police’.

“Yet I was the one who ended up in the dock, not the officers.”

Mark was convicted by magistrates of two counts of police assault – and his ordeal only ended when Crown Court judge John Phipps watched the damning footage and quashed the verdict on appeal.

He said: “I am shocked and appalled at the level of police violence shown here”, adding that he had “great concerns” about the footage and effectively branding the policemen liars by saying: “I would go as far as to say the statements (by the officers) contain untruths.”

The nine-minute video shows PC Peter Lightfoot punching Mark eight times.

Mark had been out for drinks with friends in Wigan, Lancs, and left the town’s Walkabout bar at 2.40am on Sunday July 27. Police had been called to deal with a man said to be causing a nuisance to paramedics.

Special constable Lightfoot, 39 – a volunteer officer whose main job is as a van driver – and his two colleagues wrongly believed Mark was their man. He explained he had done nothing wrong, but they chased him and threw him to the floor.

“They asked me what I was doing and I told them I was just standing around. They came up and pushed me and I said ‘Don’t f***ing touch me’.

“I had been drinking, I was pretty leathered, I know that... but I was NOT being violent.”

The footage opens with an unsteady Mark drunkenly standing in the street and calling out to the officers.

As can be clearly seen, he stands 10ft from them in the middle of the road as they stand on the pavement.

Suddenly, the three officers move as one and start running across the road towards Mark.

Startled, he falls over and as he gets to his feet one officer rugby-tackles him, while the other two help bundle him to the ground. Then the vicious assault begins.

PC Lightfoot, who weighs more than 20st, bangs Mark’s head on the road twice before leaning over and shouting into his ear, while his two colleagues kneel on Mark’s legs.

Mark, in pain, tries to kick out and bites one of the officer’s legs in self-defence.

His punishment is fierce and immediate. The officer pushes his booted foot in Mark’s face while PC Lightfoot grabs his hair and repeatedly scrapes his face on the tarmac.

Even though Mark is lying unmoving on the ground, PC Lightfoot punches him twice, checks to see who is watching, then punches him another six times on the back and shoulders.

The eight pump-action blows come in eight seconds. PC Lightfoot stops the beating only as people driving past slow down to watch. The footage shows Mark pinned to the floor for a total of five minutes and 16 seconds. The most brutal section lasts for one minute 35 seconds.

Eventually, Mark was bundled into a police van in handcuffs, taken to Wigan police station and kept in custody for 20 hours.

He was charged with two counts of police assault and a public order offence – swearing at the officers. On September 22, at Wigan magistrates court, the three officers read statements to the court that Mark had been “behaving violently” and “issued challenges”.

Three JPs found Mark guilty of the two assaults – despite viewing the footage. In a final insult, he was ordered to pay PC Lightfoot £100 in compensation and one of the other officers £150.

He was also ordered to serve 200 hours community service and given a three-month suspended prison sentence. Mark, who returned from Afghanistan in February and was working his notice in the Army at the time of attack, said: “I went in to the Army thinking this country was worth fighting for.

“I put my life on the line every day in Afghanistan, so to come back and be treated like this for no reason was just so depressing. My plan was to join the fire service when I came out of the Army – but I was rejected because of my conviction. It meant I was unemployable for anything I wanted to do.”

Determined to clear his name, Mark lodged an appeal. And at Liverpool crown court on November 13, Judge Phipps saw the footage and asked incredulously: “Where is this man of violence?”

Mark said: “In court the police said I was out of control, but you can see I was just lying there. I was drunk, I’ll admit that, but I wasn’t causing trouble. I swore at the officers after they pushed me, but I was not challenging them or threatening them. At no point in the CCTV can you see me being violent.

“It was awful. I had come back from fighting in Afghanistan and now, on community service, I was painting a school as a convict, standing next to men who were drug dealers and robbers.”

Yesterday Mark received the £250 compensation back from the officers.

Brought up in Wigan by supermarket assistant mum Kathleen, 59, and his factory engineer dad John, 61, Mark revealed: “My grandad had been in the Army and when I joined my parents were so proud of me.

“I lost two friends – one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan – and although I loved the Army I wanted to come out and try something else.”

He added: “I’m delighted to have cleared my name, but it is scandalous that I was treated like this.”

At his home in Orrell, Wigan, PC Lightfoot, a Special Constable for 19 years, refused to discuss his attack on Mark saying: “Go away. You are not welcome.”

Special constables have the same power of arrest as regular full-time officers and are subject to the same rules, but are not paid.

A police spokesman said: “Greater Manchester Police’s professional standards branch is investigating the conduct of officers on the Wigan division.

“One officer has had his duties restricted and another two are being investigated.

“The matter has been voluntarily referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but an independent complaint has also been made.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/latest-news/...5875-20934568/

[ZingPao]

When all hell breaks loose there will be plenty of pay back.

ive just watched this video of suppposed police brutality and all i can see is is a drunk resisting arrest and the officers using force to make him release his arms so they can handcuff him. The supposed victim says he was absolutely leathered at the time but can supposedly can recall what his actions were. The officer who punches him repeatedly in the back is a standard action aswell as kneeling in the back to get someone to put there arms out. The fact that the man on the floor is a so called war hero disgraces the word hero by his actions on the night because if he had nothing to do with the incident why did he feel he needed to get involved?

[Nostalgia]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

ive just watched this video of suppposed police brutality and all i can see is is a drunk resisting arrest and the officers using force to make him release his arms so they can handcuff him. The supposed victim says he was absolutely leathered at the time but can supposedly can recall what his actions were. The officer who punches him repeatedly in the back is a standard action aswell as kneeling in the back to get someone to put there arms out. The fact that the man on the floor is a so called war hero disgraces the word hero by his actions on the night because if he had nothing to do with the incident why did he feel he needed to get involved?

Do you consider the police banging the guys head off the ground and scraping his face on the road before punching him standard action too, unregistered?
How do you know that punching someone during arrest is standard action, does it say so in your statutory police rule book?

What if three men had done to one policeman what the three police men did to this one man? They would all be sent to prison for sure, the normal gaggle of senior police officers would be out telling us how police officers daily put their lives on the line and all the other exagerated clap trap we get from some elements of the police service.

The simple facts are we the public expect better standards from our police service, these three do not meet the standard, they have lied to the courts and assaulted a member of the public, they have conspired to pervert the course of justice to serve there own ends.

At a time when we are told the police are stretched and need public support, this incident will only serve to drive a wedge between the public and the police. Also, at some point a decent fine and honest police officer somewhere will be in need of help from the public as he tries to do his or her duty and as a result of this incident the public might not respond and that officer may suffer terrible consequences, terrible consequence brought about by those 'brother' officers who have let the police force down as well as the public.

So for the sake of all decent police officers everywhere, for their protection and the protection of the public and the preservation of our society these three police officers should be made an example of. They should be, in a very high profile and publicised way made an example of, sacked and jailed. No ifs no buts, no excuses, gone.

As for the JPs they need to resign, if they don,t sack them, they are clearly more suited to being flower show judges. There is a saying; if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck etc then it probably is a duck. But not it would seem in a Wigan court, so for the sake of the self respect of Wigan .... boy and girls of the bench do the right thing, go.

As to the soldier - "Arte et Marte" semper fi Bro.

I too watched this video and also read the previous comment, i cannot believe somebody would support those so called police officers obviously also a police officer. For a start can someone explain to me why it is necessary for three officers to grind Marks face into the floor and assault him numerous times, are you telling me this is this standard practice!! They acted like a bunch of thugs, am not saying Mark is completely innocent in all this but he in no way deserved what he got. It is the typical action of police officers on the weekend in city centre's they act completely over the top and then arrest individuals for the classic drunk and disorderly or threatening behaviour. It keeps their arrest figures high and looks like they are addressing the anti social behaviour problem.
To also say things like "so called war Hero" its outrageous anyone who serves on the frontline derves alot more credit.
Sack the special copper and fine the other two the maximum limit, send the money to help the heroes. The police officers should apologise in person to Mark.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

ive just watched this video of suppposed police brutality and all i can see is is a drunk resisting arrest and the officers using force to make him release his arms so they can handcuff him. The supposed victim says he was absolutely leathered at the time but can supposedly can recall what his actions were. The officer who punches him repeatedly in the back is a standard action aswell as kneeling in the back to get someone to put there arms out. The fact that the man on the floor is a so called war hero disgraces the word hero by his actions on the night because if he had nothing to do with the incident why did he feel he needed to get involved?

If you watched the video, you can answer these questions:

Why did the 3 policemen need to keep the man on the floor to handcuff him?

The man was being aggressive to the police by running away .. yes?

The man was being violent towards the police .. when?

The Judge who did not see a violent man is wrong .. yes?

Punching members of the public is a standard police action yes?

Are heros not allowed to get drunk in your world?

"So called war hero".... well his commanding officer is a liar then is he?

In your world if.. and I mean if... someone is offended at being wrongly accussed of being a troublemaker by mistaken police officers and he should protest, then he deserves to have
14 facial injuries, a ciminal record and be punished by fines community service and suspended jail term ... yes?

The getting involved bit .. it was the police that approached him so there is an answer to one of your questions ... yes?

Question..... would you like these officers working in a street near you?
Would you be able to trust their word?

A 20 stone man and 2 other able bodied men took all that time to handcuff one drunk they are what.....ham fisted....in need of training.....?

Any way you view this the boobies, the magistrates, and you - especially you, must live in a world where reality is that which a police man says it is. A world where evaluation of evidence is not a factor, where commonsense does not exist, where there are lies, damm lies, statistics and the word of some police officers.

In the final analysis, even if the man had been cheeky in response to the officers wrongly accusing him of interfering with paramedics, even if the man had commited an arrestable offence, the violence of the police cannot and should not be condoned, inflicting injuries to the mans face in the manner shown in the cctv footage is NOT an approved police method of restraint. Punching a person as a method of restraint is NOT an approved police method of restraint. Such methods are only to be tolerated when a police officer or member of the public is in immediate danger of serious injury. Clearly the officers were not in any danger of serious injury.

On a dark night in Wigan with no cctv coverage and no witnesses, I wonder just what these three police officers might do to a member of the public if they deemed someone to be being violent towards them and resisting arrest .. . . can we take the risk... should we take the risk of letting these three lose on our streets with the power of a warrant card... I for one think not.

The only way this kind of douchebag police behaviour will ever be thwarted, and permanently nipped in the bud is if average people become enraged and will no longer tolerate it(as in Athens) Learn how to fight police SPECIFICALLY, if you are the victim of police, hunt the officers down and kill them and their families. Don't take shit and you won't get it. Death To ALL police!

[Regina]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

The only way this kind of douchebag police behaviour will ever be thwarted, and permanently nipped in the bud is if average people become enraged and will no longer tolerate it(as in Athens) Learn how to fight police SPECIFICALLY, if you are the victim of police, hunt the officers down and kill them and their families. Don't take shit and you won't get it. Death To ALL police!

A fairly extreme view here. Do you really think that you can taint all police with the same brush due to the thuggish behaviour of these officers?

In fact, I'm fairly disgusted at part of these comments.

[Thinking Man's Idiot]

Originally Posted by Regina

A fairly extreme view here. Do you really think that you can taint all police with the same brush due to the thuggish behaviour of these officers?

In fact, I'm fairly disgusted at part of these comments.

I got the impression this was an overlord testing who cheered on what they most fear. I just ignored it.


Perspective
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Europe’s ruling elite fear the “contagion” from Greece
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/de...pers-d15.shtml