Delroy Smellie, 47, a sergeant in the Metropolitan police, said he lashed out at Nicola Fisher, 36, in a "pre-emptive strike" during a confrontation outside the Bank of England on 2 April last year.
Smellie, a member of the Met's elite Territorial Support Group (TSG), went on trial accused of common assault by beating. He denies the charge, and his lawyers said they would argue he was seeking to defend himself and his colleagues.
The trial opened at a packed City of Westminster magistrates court and was shown video footage of the moment he slapped Fisher across the face before drawing his baton and striking her twice. Smellie showed no emotion as the footage played. The incident occurred during a memorial vigil for Ian Tomlinson, the newspaper vendor who had died the previous day after being attacked by another Met officer, also from the TSG.
Opening the case, Nicholas Paul, prosecuting, said Smellie had "lost his self control" during an "excessive and unjustified" attack on Fisher. "He went from level one to level five without considering the intervening steps," said Paul.
Paul showed district judge Daphne Wickham, who is trying the case without a jury, CCTV footage of the police operation and amateur footage of the clash between Smellie and Fisher that was posted on YouTube. The trial is expected to last four days.
4 comments:
It must be said- nowadays them drinkcartons do look very much like highpowered rifles or broadswords...
That said- If I look at that vid- tha chaos and the threatening agressiveness of the crowd-- I should think that htose offices have to be very well trained not to lose their cool and to control themselves from not doing what they did there. Without training, I probably would have that same reaction on that girl and the others. But her saying that he could have asked politely while she was swearing and pushing back in that very situation is rather absurd and not very in tune with the situation at that moment...
But he should have been better trained and he should have had more control over his own reaction. Granted.
'<span>But her saying that he could have asked politely while she was swearing and pushing back in that very situation is rather absurd and not very in tune with the situation at that moment...'</span>
Agreed, the protestors seemed to be acting more aggressively then the police officers.
I think a hit on the face and taking the batton out and using it straight away rather then a warning with it first is heavy handed.
So you've got the biggest gang in the country, (the police); who've got the best equipment, the best communications, the "law" on their side. Why go up against them? You never win!
Nice legs though....
Double plus bad, thought crime, George Orwell was right just 26 years out.
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