I have watched the extracts from the body cam videos, the statement by the family and the discussion on Newsnight, which included an interview with the Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner.
The footage is obviously distressing. What does it tell us we didn’t already know? We knew the Police made a mistake. We didn’t know the extent of the lying and cover up that led to that mistake. The officers clearly assumed that Nowak was the criminal and was feigning injury. They couldn’t see an injury, ignored his statements, handcuffed and arrested him, before realising he was seriously injured.
The IPC will investigate and determine whether their mistake was reasonable in the circumstances, or whether it wasn’t. If it wasn’t then disciplinary actions will follow.
In the meantime there isn’t a shred of evidence that the police would have reacted any differently if the ethnicity of those involved was reversed. This being the point I have been trying to make.
Not that this wasn’t awful, or that the police didn’t get it wrong.