London Metropolitan Police Assault Cameraman
The video and description included withing this post was shared with the Cop Block Network by Marcus Potter, via the CopBlock.org Submissions Page. Marcus has previously submitted videos of himself filming the police in London and the negative reactions that they have had toward him. Those earlier posts can be found here.
In the post below, Marcus describes the video he submitted, which he states took place shortly after his last video submission in which he was assaulted by a group of London Metro Police who claimed they thought he might be a terrorist.
Date of Incident: July 27, 2016
Officer Involved: PC Price Badge# 1552
Department Involved: Westminster Borough (Borough Code CW)
Department Website: London Metropolitan Police Service
Department Phone No.: +44 (207) 230-1212
Shortly after my earlier encounter with PCs Brown, Lyons, and Hicks, I saw another police officer, PC Price 1552 on patrol in Westminster, London and began filming her from the opposite side of the road. After three minutes she asked me to walk across the road and performed a gesture for me to do so.
I obliged as I had nothing to hide and stopped a reasonable distance from her. She then said something to me that I couldn’t understand to which I replied that I couldn’t hear her. She then approached me, explained that I had already been stopped today and asked me why I was still taking pictures.
Whilst I was answering her question, she grabbed my right arm (which was holding my camera phone) and moved it downwards to which I replied “Whoa! Calm down! There’s no need for that!”
She explained that she found my actions of videoing her without her permission “really rude” to which I replied that I was “sorry”.
She replied “OK” to which I replied that she had no right to use force on me.
She replied that “I haven’t used force on you, you were standing over there and I was standing over here.”
I replied that she did touch my camera to which she rudely retorted “Oh please? Really!”
We said our farewells to each other at that point. As I walked away, I read her collar number out loud to the camera, and explained that the officer was from the Metropolitan Police.
– Marcus Potter
