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Simon Harwood: 'I was wrong to hit and push Ian Tomlinson' Simon Harwood: 'I was wrong to hit and push Ian Tomlinson'
(about 6 hours later)
The police officer accused of the manslaughter of Ian Tomlinson has said he accepts that he was wrong to have hit and pushed him. A police officer accused of killing a man during the G20 protests in London would "not have gone anywhere near him" had he known the man was an infirm alcoholic making his way home, rather than a potentially violent protester, a court has heard.
Continuing his evidence at Southwark crown court on Tuesday, PC Simon Harwood said if he had realised Tomlinson was walking away from police lines at the time he "would not have gone near him". "Now I know all that I know ... and how poorly he was, I am sorry I got it wrong. I should not have hit him with a baton," PC Simon Harwood said of his strike and push against Ian Tomlinson on the evening of 1 April 2009.
Harwood hit Tomlinson with a baton and pushed him to the ground during the G20 protests in the City of London in April 2009. The father-of-nine walked 75 metres before he collapsed and later died. Asked by Mark Dennis QC, prosecuting, what he would have done had he known Tomlinson's intentions and health at the time, Harwood replied: "I would not have gone anywhere near him."
In cross-examination on Tuesday, Mark Dennis QC asked Harwood: "You do now accept that what you did in relation to Mr Tomlinson was wrong?" Continuing his evidence at Southwark crown court, Harwood – a member of the Metropolitan police's elite Territorial Support Group (TSG) public order unit – insisted repeatedly that he made the best decision he could at the time, in the context of a day of disturbances connected to the meeting of G20 leaders in London.
Harwood replied: "Like I said, now I do, but not at the time. Now I've seen all the evidence and I know how poorly Mr Tomlinson was I'm sorry that I got involved. I shouldn't have hit him with a baton and pushed him." At one point during a morning of sometimes heated questioning at Southwark crown court, some of Tomlinson's children gasped and walked out from the public gallery after Harwood described a firearm as one possible tactical option he could have used in a hypothetical public order situation.
Asked by Dennis to list the potential methods open to a TSG officer to move someone on, Harwood listed first a baton strike to the arm or leg, then a push, kicks or punches, CS spray, handcuffs, or a voice command.
Questioning the order in which the officer named the options, Dennis said: "You have gone straight to violence, force." Harwood responded: "No, I have gone for reasonable force."
Asked to cite more options, he named the use of a firearm – at which point some of Tomlinson's family left the court – then use of a shield, or "life-threatening strikes".
Harwood is accused of the manslaughter of 47-year-old Tomlinson, who was attempting to find a way through police lines to the hostel where he lived when he collapsed in the street, dying shortly afterwards.
Several days later video footage ran on the Guardian's website, taken by a US man in London on business. It showed a riot officer, later identified as Harwood, strike Tomlinson on the back of the legs before shoving him hard to the ground. Tomlinson was walking away from the advancing line of police at the time.
The prosecution alleges that the fall caused internal bleeding associated with Tomlinson's liver, which killed him.
The effects were exacerbated by Tomlinson's long-standing alcoholism, the court has heard. Tomlinson had been drinking heavily on the day and appeared unresponsive to earlier commands, other witnesses said.
Harwood, 45, from Carshalton in Surrey, denies manslaughter on the grounds that he used reasonable force.Harwood, 45, from Carshalton in Surrey, denies manslaughter on the grounds that he used reasonable force.
Tomlinson was walking away from police lines when he was hit and shoved to the ground, but at the time Harwood said he thought he was being deliberately obstructive. Under persistent questioning from Dennis, which at one point saw Harwood's wife, Helen, weep in the public gallery, the policeman repeatedly insisted that given the short space of time and situation he had made the correct decision on how to move Tomlinson, who he had decided was obstructing police efforts to clear a pedestrian passageway by the Royal Exchange in the City.
Patrick Gibbs QC, for Harwood, asked him: "If you knew then what you know now from looking at the footage, would you have hit him with your baton?" Asked why he did not consider, for example, moving Tomlinson away more gently, Harwood said: "I did not have time to consider that option."
The officer replied: "I would not have gone near him." Asked why he opted for a baton strike followed very quickly by a push, he said: "Because that is the course of action I decided to take."
He also said he would not have pushed Tomlinson if he had known he was drunk at the time. Other officers had already ordered Tomlinson to move and he had not, Harwood added.
Earlier, the court heard how Harwood felt shocked when he saw video footage of his encounter with Tomlinson being shown on television. Dennis repeatedly challenged Harwood's assertion that he believed at the time he was in a "riot", showing videos of the passageway, containing few people.
He said he felt "shock at the fact that it was on television and the horror of actually thinking it could be me there and what it could lead to". Dennis said: "I suggest you are not telling the truth at all. This is your last line of defence, having been caught out, on video, acting improperly."
Tomlinson's widow, Julia, cried in the public gallery as Harwood gave evidence and was comforted by family members. Dennis asked whether Harwood's tactic was to "strike first and ask questions afterwards". This was unfair, the officer replied.
The trial continues.The trial continues.