Historian arrested for jaywalking

A British historian claims that he was knocked to the ground by a policeman before being arrested and spending eight hours in jail because he inadvertently committed the offence of "jaywalking" in Atlanta, Georgia, last week and failed to realise that a man who told him to stop was a police officer.

Professor Felipe Fernández-Armesto, said he had been the victim of "terrible violence" by Officer Kevin Leonpacher and four burly colleagues. "I'm a mass of contusions."



When the 56-year-old professor of global environmental history at Queen Mary, University of London, who is also a member of Oxford University's modern history faculty, appeared in court the next day, prosecutors dropped the charges. An internal police inquiry is now under way.

He said he had been crossing the road between two hotels when Mr Leonpacher shouted at him to stop. Because the officer was wearing a bomber jacket that covered his uniform, the professor told the History News Network, he did not realise he was a policeman. When the officer, 28, tried to stop him and demanded to see identification, Prof Fernández-Armesto asked to see his ID, which he "didn't take kindly to".

"This young man kicked my legs from under me, pinned me to the ground, handcuffed me. Naturally I was bridling, and he called his colleagues. I had five burly policemen pinioning me to the ground." Mr Leonpacher, however, said the historian repeatedly refused to cooperate, despite being asked five times to stop. "He pulled away and began to wrestle me".