G20 revisited – Simon Harwood to be taken to trial
A long time ago I posted about the G20 protest which I attended to photograph the events as they unfolded.
I was (un)lucky enough to be at the place where Ian Tomlinson was pushed to the ground by PC Simon Harwood and I photographed the first shots of him lying on the floor before I ran off to get medical help.The picture I took when I returned to him was the main one used by The Sun the next day.
The case is now coming to a close and I’ve just read today that the jury concluded that "Mr Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed and that PC Harwood had used "excessive and unreasonable force"".
My G20 Stock Images Is Simon Harwood the evil face of the Police force as the Media and protest groups would have us believe?
Doubtful. Most police that I know just want to help and protect the public.
I guess there are exceptions to any rule, but only his friends and family know his true character.Should he pay for his actions on the 1st April 2009?
Two regular guys go to a pub on a Friday night and during the night a scuffle breaks out.
One of the guys gets caught up in the fight and hits someone who falls, smacks their head on the ground and doesn’t get up.
The guy will go to court and, even though it was an accident, he will be tried and charged for manslaughter.Pretty much what happened at the G20. An action that was the catalyst for an unfortunate death.
Time will tell on the final result, but I’m hoping that justice will run it’s course.
What’s good for the goose and all that 😉What is unusual is that, for the first time, the misconduct hearing of a police officer will be held in public. It looks like they’re offering the lamb up for public slaughter in order to appease the image of the police force (look – we’re reprimanding our own).
On a positive note – the ‘blood money’ I received for my picture in the sun which I gave to the Guide Dogs for the Blind has matured and Otis (the black lab I helped sponsor) is now with his new owner 🙂
It seems I’m in the news …. again :o)
The phone’s ben ringing tonight.
It seems I’m in the news …. again 🙂New footage has been released of the Ian Tomlinson incident …. and in it plain as day is wee me taking pictures (long black coat, white shirt, blue jeans).
https://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/video/2009/apr/21/g20-ian-tomlinson-new-video
I was contacted by IPCC regarding the incident and I’m meeting with them for an interview and delivering high-res images that may be used in their investigations.
Media Motives
I was contacted by a friend expressing concern over my motives behind ‘selling’ my images to the press. I thought she knew me a bit better than that.
To clarify, I will not be profiting from any of my images relating to the poor man that passed away.
The media will be paying me a fair price for any freelance images they’ve used, but there’s no way I’d profit from someone else’s misfortune.
Any proceeds from this sad occurance will be donated to charity.
G20 Protest Images
Today has been a strange day …..
It’s the G20 summit at the moment and so I popped down to Bank to do a little reportage.
I was standing there between baying protestors throwing bottles on one side and riot police and dogs barking on the other. And me in the middle wondering which way it was going to go.
When I was there I found a man that had collapsed. I took a couple of pics of him and then I realised he was in trouble. So I ran and got the police, but by the time we got back I think he’d passed away.
They tubed him and tried CPR, but I think it was too late.
The police tonight released word that a man had collapsed and diedI took this picture below while the police were working on reviving the man amid flying bottles and breaking glass. Even the protestors were quick to chastise the idiots throwing the glass at our heads
If anone knows the man and see this post, then I can only say I’m sorry for the loss and the police did a great job trying to protect him and trying to help him as best they could.
