UK cop caught on camera throwing woman onto concrete cell floor, badly injuring her

[mike r]

Article link with video
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11195195

Wiltshire policeman faces sack for cell attack on woman

A policeman is expected to be fired after he was caught on CCTV throwing a woman into a cell, badly injuring her.

The footage also shows Sgt Mark Andrews dragging Pamela Somerville across the floor of Melksham police station in Wiltshire.

Ms Somerville, now 59, was arrested in July 2008 after being found asleep in her car. Her treatment left her with facial injuries and needing hospital care.

Andrews has been convicted of causing the woman actual bodily harm and is likely to be dismissed from his job.

The BBC's Steve Brodie reports.

[Hannah Bell]

1. sleeping in your car is cause for arrest now?

[Dead_Parrot]

2. It is in the UK, if you're drunk

The phrasing of the DUI law is along the lines of "being in charge of a motor vehicle" while under the influence: No sleeping it off in the back seat, at least if you've got the keys.

I'm pretty sure she would have to have refused a roadside test to wind up in the cells.

[Hannah Bell]

3. that's senseless.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. I think the idea is...

...to stop you laying low until the police have gone before meandering your way home.

But, yeah.

[dipsydoodle]

9. I think its all to do

with whether or not you've got the keys. Possession of the keys brings it under driving while under the influence which is arrestable.

[HEyHEY]

5. Just fired? How about some assualt charges?

[Dead_Parrot]

8. Says he's been already been convicted of Actual Bodily Harm

So, potentially 5 years on the other side of the bars.

[Ken Burch]

6. It'll be interesting to see if people in the UK get angrier about this

than they did about the woman who threw the cat in the dumpster.

[TheMadMonk]

7. Nope. And not to condemn people for being idiots. It's about expectations...

...and familiarity. Cruelty to animals is a big thing in Western societies at the moment, in Great Britain moreso than most. Cruelty to children too. (Interesting and telling is that America's first successful child abuse case had to be prosecuted under animal welfare laws.)

In the past and in other societies, harshness and even cruelty towards the helpless is used as an outlet for the less admirable traits in mankind.

In the modern global society (as always) man's cruelty towards his fellow man is no unusual or remarkable thing.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. There was a rape trial years ago, in Brooklyn I believe, where the...

perpetrator was slam dunked by the jury. This was back in the days when it wasn't so easy to get a rape conviction and there were questions about consent.

(The rape took place on a rooftop during a "tar beach" party. The significance of this will be apparent.)

After the trial, jurors were interviewed and asked howcum they came up with this rare conviction.

"When we heard he threw the girl's dog off the roof, we knew he was a bad one."

Tossing a dog off the roof worse than rape? I doubt any of the jurors, or those outraged reading the story, would go that far, but there's something about violating the innocence of children, animals, the elderly or handicapped or any others who have no chance of defending themselves. They trust us to assist, not to attack, and violating that trust is the vilest of crimes.