The Privilege Money Can’t Buy Strikes Yet Again

The very public death of a certain George Floyd five years ago this month was the pretext for rioting, civil disorder and murder on an unprecedented scale. Leaving aside the fact that with the wisdom of hindsight, none of the officers in that case did anything wrong, like the very real non-fatal beating of Rodney King three decades earlier, there was a perception of brutality. In the United States and to a lesser extent the United Kingdom, this perception is centred on something called racism.

The good news is that this perception is wrong, totally contrived. The bad news is that due to innate sadism, temper or simply plain stupidity, police officers the world over hand out beatings and worse to all and sundry regardless of race, colour or creed, and even at times, sex. As if that were not bad enough, the courts, including jurors, often let them get away with it.

The latest and most appalling example of this is the acquittal of two uniformed thugs in the pepper spraying and tasing of - get this - a 92 year old man in a wheelchair, a man with one leg, who was clearly suffering from dementia.

If you have a strong stomach, you can watch actual video of this insane attack on YouTube, Rumble, and doubtless elsewhere, but here is a link to how The Guardian reported it. The incident dates to June 2022, an unnecessary delay; does it really take nearly three years to process a straightforward case like this?

PC Stephen Smith and WPC Rachel Comotto, 36, were called to a care home at Saint Leonards-on-Sea where Donald Burgess was said to have seized a knife and threatened staff with it. This was said to have been out of character and the consequence of a urinary tract infection affecting his judgment. Common sense alone dictates that a person of that age in a care home may not have all his faculties, or as we will see shortly, her faculties. It remains to be seen why the staff felt it necessary to call the police. The knife was very small and if he inflicted any damage with it, that would have been to himself. Leaving that aside, it could clearly have been taken off him by two or three staff, and he could have been restrained until he recovered his senses. Nevertheless, they called the police, and when these two thugs in uniform turned up, they pepper sprayed and tasered him in less than a minute and a half.

Mr Burgess was taken to hospital and died 22 days later, after his ninety-third birthday, although his death was said not to have been as a result of this insane attack.

Smith and Comotto stood trial at Southwark Crown Court. After their acquittal, the family of the victim expressed disappointment at the verdict, while Assistant Chief Constable Paul Court said they will face a gross misconduct hearing - probably one each (after which they will hopefully be sacked).

Thugs in uniform: Rachel Comotto and Stephen Smith.

If you are not familiar with the privilege money can’t buy, the background to it is explained here, and here as a PDF.

Even on the rare occasion that a thug in uniform is convicted, he will generally not be held properly accountable for his actions. A similar case to that of Donald Burgess occurred in Australia, only this time the victim died as a result of the attack. Clare Nowland was a 95 year old great-grandmother suffering from dementia. It is possible she thought she was being held against her will (she was, but be serious) when she picked up two knives and was moving around the care home using her walker. When Kristian White turned up, she was still holding one of the knives, but like Donald Burgess was clearly no threat to anyone but herself.

Not willing to engage in a long stand-off, White fired his taser at her which resulted in her falling over backwards and hitting her head. At his trial for manslaughter in November last year, the jury was told that Mrs Nowland’s behaviour had become increasing bizarre. On one occasion she had climbed a tree and got stuck. Senior Constable White was tried at Sydney for the May 2023 incident and was found guilty, but although the prosecution pushed for a custodial sentence, this March, the judge gave him a sentence that was described by the victim’s family as a slap on the wrist. Here is the ABC News report. Comments have been turned off, but there is no doubt what most members of the Australian public were thinking.

There is though, one exception to the seeming immunity of police officers to the criminal justice system. That is of course when race is an issue, or is made an issue. In June 2023, police in Croydon were working with ticket inspectors to clamp down on so-called fare dodging. A black woman was asked to stop, and didn’t. Police state or not, in this country or indeed anywhere, when a police officer tells you to stop, or asks you to stop, it’s best to stop. And on demand or request to give your name and address. You can complain later in writing for all the good it will do, but don’t argue on the street, and don’t ignore the officer.

The woman concerned ended up being arrested, but was released when it turned out she had a ticket. It is most likely she acted like this deliberately to create an incident. She did, and the clowns from the local Black Lives Matter chapter came out to protest, but fortunately there were no riots this time. Her arrest was caught on video.

As a result, PC Perry Lathwood was charged with common assault and convicted. Fortunately, he was cleared at Southwark Crown Court on appeal.