Ian Tomlinson was not being confrontational when he was “violently shoved” by police during the G20 protests, a businessman told the inquest into the newspaper vendor’s death yesterday.
Christopher La Jaunie, an asset manager from New York, was in London for a conference when he began filming the protests on a digital camera on April 1, 2009.
Yesterday, speaking publicly for the first time, he said that Mr Tomlinson was clearly not a protester but was struck with a baton and pushed to the ground with “excessive force” after turning away from a line of officers.
“He was not confrontational at all,” he told the inquest at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London.
“He had his hands in his pockets. It was clear now he was not going to be able to get through so he turned his back to walk away. Once his back was turned . . . a push is a very polite term, he was rather violently shoved.”
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He said that Mr Tomlinson’s head hit the ground, and added: “I saw a police officer with no badge and a balaclava and riot gear. I saw who it was but I couldn’t see his face. Quite frankly, I was afraid that if I focused my attention on him and started following him, he would come after me.”
Mr Tomlinson, 47, died after staggering about 100 yards and falling to the ground in Cornhill, near St Michael’s Alley.
Mr La Jaunie said that a short while after the incident he saw a man lying on the pavement some distance away from him. “He looked very unwell, somewhat ashen; he looked like he was about to pass out,” he said, adding that it was clear to him that it was the man whom he had filmed.
The next day he became aware that a man had died and “it seemed the only likely candidate could have been Mr Tomlinson”, he said.
The businessman said that he realised that his video footage contradicted the original official version of events, which claimed that Mr Tomlinson had died of natural causes.
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“I basically contacted every reporter who followed the story by e-mail to say, ‘I have something that may be of interest to you’,” he said, adding that in his opinion his footage “was contradicting the story”.
Mr La Jaunie’s video subsequently received worldwide media attention. The inquest also heard that PC Simon Harwood, the policeman who pushed Mr Tomlinson to the ground, later recognised himself when the footage was broadcast on television. He had been sitting with his colleague, PC Alex Jackaman, at Catford police station, southeast London, on April 8 when television news showed the incident.
“PC Harwood was sitting next to me and his reaction was, ‘My God, that’s me’,” PC Jackaman said. “I thought he was joking. I said something along the lines of ‘It couldn’t have been you. You were with me that day and we were nowhere near a dog unit’. He said ‘No, that’s me’ in a serious voice.
“The way he said it you could tell he was telling the truth. It was him,” he said.
But PC Harwood’s supervising officer, who was present when the footage was playing, said that it was not him.
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The inquest continues.