UK NEWS
POLICE OFFICER QUESTIONED FOR MANSLAUGHTER OVER G20 DEATH
Tomlinson was pushed by police
By Julia White for express.co.uk
THE police officer suspended following the death of Ian Tomlinson during G20 protests has been questioned on suspicion of manslaughter after a post-mortem revealed he died from an "abdominal
haemorrhage" - not a heart attack.
The 47-year-old newspaper salesman who was seen being struck by police and pushed to the floor, was first thought to have died from a heart attack.
But the second post-mortem examination - carried out by Dr Nat Cary at
the request of the Independent Police Complaints Commission and Mr
Tomlinson’s family - contradicted these findings.
A spokesman for the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said: “Following the initial results of the second post-mortem, a Metropolitan Police officer has been interviewed under caution for the offence of manslaughter as part of an ongoing inquiry into the death of Ian Tomlinson.”
A statement from City of London Coroner’s Court, released through Tuckers Solicitors, said Dr Cary’s preliminary report contradicted the initial findings.
Dr Cary rejected the conclusion of Dr Freddy Patel that Mr Tomlinson died from coronary artery disease.
It said: “Dr Cary’s opinion is that the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage. The cause of the haemorrhage remains to be ascertained.
“Dr Cary accepts that there is evidence of coronary atherosclerosis but states that in his opinion its nature and extent is unlikely to have contributed to the cause of death.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the force was cooperating fully with the IPCC and would “proactively” give it any relevant information.
Mr Tomlinson’s son Paul King said: “First we were told that there had been no contact with the police, then we were told that he died of a heart attack.
"Now we know that he was violently assaulted by a police officer and died from internal bleeding.
“As time goes on, we hope that the full truth about how Ian died will be made known.”
In the immediate aftermath of Mr Tomlinson’s collapse, Scotland Yard said officers trying to help him were pelted with plastic bottles and other missiles thrown by protesters.
Video footage then emerged of an officer striking the 47-year-old newspaper salesman with his baton before shoving him violently to the ground.
An amateur cameraman caught the policeman’s actions on camera as thousands of protesters converged outside the Bank of England.
The officer, a member of the Territorial Support Group, was suspended last Friday at the request of the IPCC.
