Violent Arrest In U.K (Video)

[Rasputin]

Four men, five punches and a boot: A 19-year-old woman is arrested

According to the CCTV camera that recorded the incident, the first blow was thrown at 02.18.58. Seconds later, as she was pinned down by two police officers and two nightclub staff, the young woman was hit on five further occasions. A foot then appears to be placed on her body.
The 19-year-old seems limp, and may even have been unconscious. As the officers struggle to pick her up and drag her to a waiting police van, the teenager's trousers fall round her ankles.


Toni Comer remembers nothing of the incident outside the Niche nightclub in Sheffield. She is an epileptic and thinks she had a fit. But the footage, which has been obtained by the Guardian, is now the centre of a police inquiry that will test whether the officers involved acted proportionately during the arrest, or with unnecessary force. The video, which can be seen on the Guardian Unlimited website, has already caused concern in Sheffield among those who have seen it.
Ms Comer's lawyers are demanding that the Independent Police Complaints Commission launches an investigation to look properly at the inconsistencies they believe are found in a statement made by PC Anthony Mulhall. The officer has admitted he hit her but claimed he acted in self-defence and only after extreme provocation.

The struggle involving Ms Comer, now 20, from Sheffield, took place when she was arrested outside the club last July. She had earlier been ejected from the club and had then damaged a car belonging to a security guard in the club's car park.

Yesterday she pleaded guilty to criminal damage and was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 compensation to the car owner. Sheffield magistrates court was told by Danny Simpson, Ms Comer's lawyer, that the arrest had caused "a great deal of distress" and an officer "punched Ms Comer five or so times until she would say she was unconscious". He added that it was now the subject of a complaint to the police and "may in due course be the subject of civil proceedings".

By chance, the club's security cameras caught the arrest. The film shows Ms Comer and PC Mulhall at the top of a fire escape. During a struggle, they roll down the stairs until PC Mulhall lands on top of her. He can be seen striking her five times. Other police officers arrive, including a dog-handler and dog, and she is dragged to a police van with her trousers down.

Ms Comer admits she had been drinking brandy and had become aggressive in the club. She is convinced she had an epileptic fit and the officer has said he saw foam at her mouth. She has suffered more than 20 such fits, the first when she was pregnant with her two-year-old son.

She said she was unaware of what had happened during the arrest until shown the film. "I was shocked when I first saw the film. I didn't think they'd do something like that. I didn't want to go out of the house after seeing it."

She acknowledges the police would have been unaware of her medical condition and says that her father has told her that she can be aggressive during a fit. "But they should be aware of those types of illnesses. It's shocking what the police did to me - I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

Her father, Leroy Walcott, said yesterday that he had been shocked by the film. "To see that happening to your daughter is bad enough but the fact that police officers are involved makes it doubly worse."

In a statement after the arrest, PC Mulhall acknowledges he struck Ms Comer but said he only did so in self-defence and after extreme provocation. "She began to kick, spit and made attempts to bite me," he said in his statement. "As her hands became free she tried to grab handfuls of my genitals and knee and kick me in the same place. At this point, I struck her as hard as I was able with my right fist in an attempt to subdue her. There was no apparent effect so I did this twice more."

When she kept resisting, he said, he hit her again. Trying to put her in handcuffs, he states that "I now struck her as hard as I was physically able in an attempt to deaden her arm ... In the end I had to use brute force."

Ms Comer, who is 5ft 6in tall and weighs nine stone, has one previous conviction for handling when she was 14. She was given community service.

Ruggie Johnson, coordinator of The Monitoring Group North and editor of the local magazine Wha' a gwan, first obtained the footage. "I was absolutely shocked when I saw it. It's like something out of the Deep South." He said it reminded him of the Rodney King episode in Los Angeles when police officers were seen on camera making an arrest of a drunk driver.

A spokeswoman for the South Yorkshire force said: "A complaint has been lodged and is now being looked into."

Peter Mahy, the lawyer handling the complaint said: "It raises very serious concerns, hence my call for it to be investigated independently by the Independent Police Complaints Commission."



Watch it here :

http://www.guardian.co.uk/video/page/0,,2028548,00.html

[Rasputin]

THIS is the South Yorkshire Police officer at the centre of a furious row sparked by the violent arrest of a young Sheffield mum outside a city centre nightclub.
PC Anthony Mulhall, who is thought to have been a firearms officer at the time of the incident, was yesterday removed from public duties for his own protection after CCTV footage showing him apparently punching 20-year-old Toni Comer eight times was broadcast around the world.

The officer has admitted hitting her "as hard as I am physically able" but said he was acting in self-defence to subdue and handcuff Miss Comer after extreme provocation.

Today Miss Comer, aged 20, of Errington Avenue, Arbourthorne, called for PC Mulhall to be sacked.

The mum-of-one, a former pupil of Arbourthorne Junior and Newfield Schools in Norton Lees, said: "I want to see him sacked. If he is capable of doing this to someone like me he could do it to anyone."

South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said the decision to withdraw PC Mulhall from certain duties was made to protect the officer and restore public confidence. The officer has not been suspended.

Mr Hughes said he was "horrified" when he first saw the dramatic footage on late-night television, having only been notified a few hours earlier.

But yesterday solicitor Peter Mahy, who is handling Miss Comer's civil case against the force, said his firm had contacted South Yorkshire Police in October 2006 - three months after the incident happened in July - asking them to refer the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

He said: "In October last year, we asked South Yorkshire Police to refer the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission to investigate the matter themselves, but have received no response. This incident is obviously a matter of public concern."

The IPCC has confirmed it will be launching an investigation. Commissioner for Yorkshire and Humberside Nicholas Long said: "I have seen the CCTV footage and decided it is in the public interest for a wholly independent investigation to be conducted.

"This investigation will look into the circumstances of the incident to determine whether the force used by the officer when making the arrest was justified and proportionate."

Miss Comer was punched eight times when police arrived to arrest her after she damaged two vehicles in the car park of The Limit nightclub.
She was thrown out of a Niche-themed club night at the Eyre Street venue after a row with her boyfriend.

Miss Comer claims she suffered an epileptic fit and doesn't remember the assault, but decided to take legal action when she saw the video footage.

She said: "I can't remember the attack, I can't even remember being thrown out of the club. I only knew something was wrong when I woke up the next morning covered in bruises.

Miss Comer admitted criminal damage at Sheffield Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

Today an eyewitness speaking exclusively to The Star claimed the police officers hadn't realised their suspect was a woman until she lay restrained on the floor.

The witness said: "They thought it was a young black guy that had run up the steps of the club. She had a tracksuit on and a hood up and they thought she was a man. They didn't realise it was a woman.
"Then when she was lying on the floor one of them swore and said, 'It's a woman'."

Police refused to comment on specific claims but a spokesman said: "It's a matter of record that the officer involved has fully accepted striking the person in the course of arresting them. The officer maintains he did so because the offender was assaulting him."

He added: "Public confidence in the police is of the highest importance and the force will give their fullest co-operation during the enquiry."
The spokesman also said the force had received dozens of calls from members of the public pledging support for the force and the officer involved.

[Rasputin]

'I Was In The Wrong'

A woman filmed being punched by a policeman admitted later she was in the wrong, it's reported.

A police watchdog has launched an investigation after PC Anthony Mulhall was caught on CCTV hitting Toni Comer, 20.

But the Daily Mirror reported claims that the young woman conceded: "(PC Mulhall is) telling the truth. I've been a complete t***."

The 43-year-old officer has been removed from frontline duties "for his own safety" amid calls for his suspension.

South Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Meredydd Hughes said he was "horrified" when he first saw the edited footage but said the clip failed to show the whole picture.


During the arrest Mr Hughes said: "It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the amount of fight in the dog."

Ms Comer, who weighs around nine stone, was seized outside the Niche nightclub in Sheffield last July.

The single mum-of-one had been thrown out of the venue and was then seen damaging a car.

PC Mulhall said he punched her five times on the arm and had to use "brute force" to subdue her so she could be handcuffed.

Ms Comer is preparing a civil case against the police.

A police source told the Mirror that Ms Comer made her concession following her arrest, as PC Mulhall told a custody sergeant what had happened.

This week Ms Comer admitted criminal damage and was given a conditional discharge and ordered to pay £250 for the car.

[Rasputin]

THE cop whose CCTV-filmed arrest of a drunken single mum sparked an outcry has worked as a trusted firearms officer.

Highly-praised PC Anthony Mulhall, 41, went through tough psychological tests to qualify for gun duties.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating the South Yorkshire PC after his arrest of Toni Comer, 20.

But colleagues yesterday said he was being “pilloried” and hailed him as “top quality and cool-headed”.

Neighbours also praised the PC, who is married to a firearms cop, as a “lovely, helpful man”.

PC Mulhall, who denies wrongdoing, was taken off frontline duties after Miss Comer lodged a complaint and a damages claim.





He arrested her for criminal damage in Sheffield last summer and she pleaded guilty in court.

He admits punching her arm five times. She “thinks” she had an epileptic fit, but admits drinking earlier.

CCTV footage of the arrest was passed to black activist Ruggie Johnson, who has waged campaigns against cops.

A colleague of PC Mulhall said: “He’s being pilloried. She was lashing out and biting. He struck her a series of blows on her arm to try to handcuff her and stop her hurting herself or anyone else and she didn’t need medical treatment.

“He’s a highly-respected and talented officer. He had to pass stringent physical and mental tests years ago to qualify for firearms duties.”

Jim Cannon, 63, who lives in the same Yorkshire village as PC Mulhall, said: “We’re all behind him. He’s a very valued and respected member of the community.”

Fellow villager, beauty therapist Amy Bell, 25, said: “Anthony is a lovely, helpful and polite man. He’s a nice guy who does a very tough job.”

[IQ]

Ajab :0

[Rasputin]

July 21 accused 'was protesting against plight of Muslims'

The man "principally responsible" for making the rucksack explosives used in the alleged July 21 attempted terrorist attacks in London said today it was a protest against "the plight of Muslims everywhere".
Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, admitted assembling the alleged bombs but said he did not mean to kill or hurt anyone, Woolwich crown court heard.

Mr Ibrahim conceded that he was the man on the No 26 bus who was caught on CCTV apparently detonating a rucksack on July 21 2005.

However, he said the device was incapable of causing an explosion and was intended as "a protest against the violence everywhere, especially in Iraq".

His defence counsel, George Carter-Stephenson QC, has already described how Mr Ibrahim tested the devices beforehand to make sure they only went "pop".

Mr Ibrahim, of Stoke Newington, north London, told the court he was born in Eritrea and came to the UK with his family in November 1990 aged 13 to escape the war with Ethiopia.

After leaving school at 16 with two GCSEs, he worked in a number of restaurants and met co-defendant Yassin Omar in 2000 when they were living in the same block. He said he bought a flat in Farleigh Road, Stoke Newington, in January 2002.

He travelled to Sudan in January 2003, staying there for two months and visiting relatives, the court heard.

Asked whether he engaged in anything in Sudan that could be described as jihadic or military training, he said no. He also denied telling anyone he had learned to fire, or had ever used, a rocket-propelled grenade.

Mr Ibrahim returned to the UK in March 2003 and ended up working in a shop in Dalston, north London, selling shoes, handbags and African cloth.

He worked full-time and was paid £35 a day, but used to supplement his income by selling the material at wholesale prices at markets in Edmonton and Edgware, the court was told.

Mr Ibrahim is the first of six defendants to appear in court accused of a plot designed to cause chaos on London's public transport network.

He and Mr Omar, 26, from New Southgate, north London, Mafo Kwaku Asiedu, 33, of no fixed address, Hussain Osman 28, of no fixed address, 25-year-old Ramzi Mohammed, of North Kensington, west London, and Adel Yahya, 24, of High Road, Tottenham, north London, all deny conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause explosions.

The trial was adjourned until Monday.