tiggers

I wonder if any of you (particularly the police officers on this board) may be able to shed some light on what follows as I am at somewhat of a loss to understand the events I am about to describe.

Firstly this took place last night and concerns my business partner. To give you a little background he is in his late thirties and is one of the most calm and mild mannered people you could ever hope to meet. Nothing much phases him and in the fifteen plus years I have know him I have only ever seen him get even remotely angry once. He shys away from any silly confrontations (pub talk etc.) and is about as law abiding as you can get which is why what follows is so surprising.

Last night early evening he was travelling home in his car and turned off the main road to drive up a side street towards his house. As he proceeded up the road he saw someone stood in the middle of 'his' side of the road. It was raining and all he could see was that it was a man in a white shirt, black trousers (no fluorescent strips etc.). The man did not move as he approached so he slowed down and drove round him on the other side of the road. As he did so he saw a second man pull the first towards the kerb. Anyway he parked at his house which was in a road a couple of turnings further along from this 'incident' and went in his house.

Ten minutes later there was a loud knock at his door. On opening it six police officers forced their way in and arrested him for attempted assault on a police officer. He was handcuffed and taken to the local police station. His car was impounded as evidence. Turns out the person in the road was a police officer and he and his colleague are alleging that he swerved towards them in his car and attempted to knock them down. He has been charged with attempted assault and after a night in cells has been released on bail. He cannot get his car back until they have finished inspecting it for evidence. The duty solicitor said he doesn't think they have a leg to stand on, but that's of little comfort to my business partner.

So can anyone please give me some sort of idea as to what might be going on here. I'd be particularly interested to get any police officer's take on this. Frankly I am bewildered by the whole event as is my business partner (he's currently sitting at his house in a state of shock). I have had my issues with the police in the past (no I am not going to discuss them here) and ironically my mate is one of the people who has always defended them and pointed out that they have a job to do and are only human. I have to say their actions in this sequence of events seem staggering and having spoke a little with my mate he feels extremely upset that this sort of thing can even happen.

So your thoughts please.

astraboy

sounds like a misunderstanding by both parties to me. Your friend didnt know it was the police, coppers colleague got the wrong end of the stick about the swervage. The only possible thing they may have him for is failing to stop as IIRC its an offence not to.
astraboy.

LG John

Yeah I have advice, when he is cleared get this in the national press and get comphensation. What a ****ing joke!!!!!!!!!!!! The police in this coutry are unreal

boxst

Hello

That sounds like an awful situation to be in. I would suggest going to see a solicitor immediately as these things can escalate and a solicitor can sometimes bring some reality to the situation.

From your description they would appear not to have a case at all.

Steve.

gsm1

Looks like the policeman may have been trying to signal your mate to stop or expected him to and they've now got it in for him. I doubt they'll be able to do him for anything but they thought they'd put him through hell as payback.

Scoob99

iTrader: (1)

Have you tried posting this on the Five 0 website? Hope it gets sorted.
Cheers
Colin

tiggers

I agree that getting a solicitor as soon a sposible would probably be a good idea and I'm sure that is what he will be doing first thing Monday.

In the interview at the station they made no mention of trying to get him to stop. They said they were dealing with 'another situation' at the time.

Regards,

tiggers.

tiggers

Yeah might be a good idea I guess - I'll go off and take a look at it - thanks!

fatherpierre

Phone the police station dealing, ask to speak with the Duty Officer and enquire about their policy on wearing high visibiity vests.

I'm pretty sure it's policy for patrolling officers to wear them. Particularly if they're traffic officers.

Suresh

If for whatever reason they want to fit him up, he's in a stck load of trouble. Get a good lawyer and hope not to be doing too much time.

warrenm2

Dont think that was too helpful Suresh! As has been said before, he has plenty of defense here, its a bitch of a situation, a headache, but its not that serious

Aaquil

Nice Suresh I bet that will make him feel better?!!! I hope he gets it sorted and the policemen sorted as well (If they are up to something). Hopefully it is a major misunderstanding and will get sorted asap. Defo get legal advice. Tell him I hope him all the best...I can't imagine how the poor guy feels.

Aaquil

Suresh

Expectation management. Wrapping the situation in PC brand cotton wool isn't what's called for here surely. I think having 6 burly coppers barging into his house to take him into custody gives a hint that the situation should be taken very seriously indeed.

Should add that I do hope it turns out ok for the fella as he hasn't actually done anything wrong!

Suresh

jjones

agree with suresh. no doubt the "police" officer that was in the road has blown the event out of all proportion.

but they only need 2 of them to collude and your mate is in serious trouble.

hedgehog

I'm sorry but the comments by Suresh are perfectly valid. I have watched police lie before in order to get a conviction and you will find that they will stick together on it. They know the form, know how the questioning is likely to go in court etc. and so also know how to make up a good story that will stick. You are likely to find that their stories will be consistent for example and that there will be no holes in them.

I find it interesting that they have taken his car and would be very concerned about that as I assume he didn't dispute that he was driving. The implication is that they are looking for accident damage and it wouldn't surprise me if it come back with a large dent in the bonnet and additional claims from the police officer.

It does sound to me like your mate needs a good solicitor and in the mean time it is vital that he says NOTHING at all to police and that he does his best to remember anything he did say. Once he talks to his chosen solicitor then the solicitor can talk to the police. The problem is that defending charges created out of thin air is very, very difficult indeed as there will be no evidence at all on his side while he doesn't know how many witnesses they will turn up on theirs.

With this in mind, and if he can afford it, then your mate needs the best solicitor he can get and preferably someone with an interest in cases of this nature and not just some general solicitor who does the paperwork for divorces 5 days per week. The solicitor may also want to start along the complaints path but that decision should be left to him/her.

If he is concerned about the cost of a good solicitor he may want to consider the likely cost of a few years in jail.

tiggers

OK the situation gets stranger. I have just been to see him and it is fair to say he is upset by the situation. He's still in shock to be honest, but considering what's happened he's doing OK.

Anyway this morning he was been told by the pound where they are holding his car that the Scenes of Crime department had faxed them to release the car. When he went to get it he was told that he couldn't take it as other police (presumably not 'Scenes of Crime') want to inspect it first. It now seems unlikely that he can have his car back until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.

This latest development has me very worried. Bear in mind that the car never struck (or came any where near to striking) the officer in the road so why do police other than 'Scenes of Crime' want to inspect it. Can they even legally do that?

One other snippet is that the officer who witnessed the whole event (presumably the one next to the officer in the road) said to my mate that he can't understand what has happened and thinks it is ludicrous that he has been arrested. Of course I doubt whether he'll be prepared to go on record as saying that.

He is going to get legal representation first thing on Monday as this could be very serious.

Oh and Suresh, no worries mate I know what you meant - might want to put it a little more tactfully next time though

Thanks for the replies.

tiggers.

tiggers

Thanks hedgehog,

My thoughts exactly (especially concerning the car).

Oh and for those of you who are reading this and think it sounds far fetched, it does, but I can assure you it is very very real.

tiggers.

NotoriousREV

Sounds like a terrible situation. Let's hope common sense prevails and the whole thing is dropped (by the police) and that the subsequent complaint unveils the truth.

camk

Tell him to get a lawyer and follow his advice. The situation is now 'in the system' so you need someone who knows how it works.

hedgehog

The other possibility here, and I know this goes entirely contrary to what I said above, is that the police force are already aware of the "actions" of this particular officer and so have doubts about the claims he is making.

It is, therefore, possible that the other people with an interest in your mates car might be part of an internal police investigation. If, for example, the officer claimed he was struck and the SoC could find no evidence of this on the car it is possible that the force are in the process of constructing a case against a "bad apple."

Highly unlikely I know but it is always a slim possibility and I am sure it is an area the solicitor will consider. The other possibilities, such as they've "found" something in or on the car don't bear thinking about at present but I'm sure these thoughts are already lurking at the back of your mates head.

tiggers

And mine mate, and mine.

Thanks for posting - your input is always valuable on posts such as these. I will update as and when I have more info.


I have the name of one solicitor who specialises in this arena, but do any of you out there have the names of any others - preferably in the Manchester area.

Thanks in advance.

tiggers.

Felix.

I've only speed read this so here go's......

Has he been charged with assault? If not he will be on police bail, this means there is not enough evidence to charge with the offence as yet - possibly pending the SOCO results. The fact they have kept the car could be due to an internal investigation or may be being kept for ASU/CPS or the courts to examine.

If he was stood in the road at night, he should be wearing a high visability jacket - this would go against health & safety and probably force policy.

Lets hope common sense prevails and this apparent 'misunderstanding' will be dropped.

G-STAR

The situation does sound extremely absurd and I too hope that common sense does prevail, but, something that does worry me is the fact that common sense was clearly not a factor during, and immediately after, the incident, at least on the police's behalf.

If the outcome does favour your business partner and the case is dropped, I would, by all means, ensure that he is fully compensated for his ordeal.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

6 coppers to arrest one guy accused of assault?

Disgusting,..............who's catching all the "criminals" breaking speed limits then, that's what I'd like to know:

Alcazar

tiggers

Hi Felix,

Just spoke with him and he is on police bail. her has been told that the case will he handed over to the CPS to see if charges will be brought.

The policeman in the road was not wearing any high visibility clothing of any kind and this is a fact that my business partner finds a little strange. As for the number of officers I can only guess at why a police force that often claims it is undermanned had six officers available for this incident.

Very strange.

tiggers.

unclebuck

Sounds like rough justice on the face of it, but there's often more to these sorts of stories than we are told. Are you sure you're in posession of the full facts and it's not being 'spun' in some way so as to make it sound like he couldn't possibly be in the wrong. I just can't see why the police would react in such a way without some kind of provocation.

Just my 2p worth. He deffo needs some professional representation.

UB

tiggers

unclebuck,

How did I know it would be you who would make a post like this?

To be honest how can anyone ever be 100% sure of any event unless they were there themselves. Having said that in the fifteen plus years I've known this guy I have never known him tell even a white lie. He is just one of those rare people who doesn't embellish stories, doesn't brag and to my knowledge doesn't tell untruths even if it would save him some hassle.

You say you can't see why the police would react in such a way, well me neither, but then when you read other threads on here their actions are sometimes bewildering.

Do me a favour and don't turn this into another of 'those' threads - this is quite a serious matter and I would rather it was not dragged off topic.

I will say thanks for contributing though and I do appreciate what you're saying - it is a little bit beyond belief.

Best regards,

tiggers.

unclebuck

Hey, no danger of that m8. There's a time and place for 'sparring' and this thread isn't it. It's just that my natural scepticism leads me to ask why. I mean it's rare indeed that they would focus so much attention on somebody for not doing anything untoward, but then again WTF, what do I know about how the police function in this day and age? Nothing much they do seems to make much sense anymore to me.

Anyway, good luck with it all.

UB

Brendan Hughes

Hope they don't find any dope hidden in the car.

If you know what I mean.

NotoriousREV

choas. in the boot, you mean?