Guardian : G20 fatality: How police view of Ian Tomlinson death changed

G20 fatality: How police view of Ian Tomlinson death changed

April 8, 2009



The Guardian obtained this footage of Ian Tomlinson at a G20 protest in London, shortly before he died. It shows Tomlinson, who was not part of the demonstration, being assaulted from behind and pushed to the ground by baton-wielding police

[Link to this video]

The official account of the events surrounding the death of Ian Tomlinson has altered sharply in the past week.

He collapsed and died shortly after 7.30pm last Wednesday, when police were still corralling protesters in a cordon near the Bank of England. A statement issued by the Met at 11.36pm described how police were told by a member of the public that a man had collapsed. Two police medics examined him and called for a London ambulance crew, but the statement said police decided to move Tomlinson, who had stopped breathing, because protesters were throwing missiles at them.

The statement made no mention of any prior police contact with Tomlinson. The following day, journalists were briefed by police that he was not a protester, had not been involved with police or been in a crush and had died of natural causes outside of the police cordon.

Independent witnesses subsequently challenged the account, maintaining that only one bottle was thrown and that one protester used a loudhailer making it clear that a man had been injured and was being assisted by police and ambulance.

The following day the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed it had received a referral from the police and would make a decision about its level of involvement after considering CCTV footage and post-mortem results. This week, the IPCC confirmed that it would manage an investigation by City of London police into the circumstances of police contact with Tomlinson.

IPCC Commissioner for London, Deborah Glass, said: "Initially we had accounts from independent witnesses who were on Cornhill, who told us that there had been no contact between the police and Mr Tomlinson when he collapsed.

However, other witnesses have since told us that he did have contact with officers. This would have been a few minutes before he collapsed. It is important that we are able to establish whether that contact had anything to do with his death."

Metropolitan police statement
Wednesday 1 April 23:36pm

A member of the public went to a police officer on a cordon in Birchin Lane, junction with Cornhill to say that there was a man who had collapsed round the corner.

That officer sent two police medics through the cordon line and into St Michaels Alley where they found a man who had stopped breathing. They called for LAS support at about 1930.

The officers gave him an initial check and cleared his airway before moving him back behind the cordon line to a clear area outside the Royal Exchange Building where they gave him CPR.

The officers took the decision to move him as during this time a number of missiles - believed to be bottles - were being thrown at them.

LAS took the man to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The Directorate of Professional Standards at both the MPS and City of London Police have been informed. The IPCC has been informed.