A police officer filmed hitting Ian Tomlinson and pushing him to the ground told an inquest yesterday that he did not believe that the newspaper seller was a threat to anyone.
PC Simon Harwood, giving evidence for a second day, said that he was “amazed” and “shocked” that Mr Tomlinson fell as it was a “poor” push.
During often fractious exchanges between the lawyer for Mr Tomlinson’s family and the officer, he was accused of lying, telling half truths and “deliberately painting a false picture of Mr Tomlinson’s actions” during the G20 protests in 2009.
In the minutes before Mr Harwood, a member of the Territorial Support Group, encountered the father of nine, he had come into contact with five other people, pushing one, pulling a cameraman to the floor and hitting another with his open hand, the court was told.
Describing the incident with Mr Tomlinson, the officer said that he could see that he had been bitten by a police dog but was still not moving away so he “moved forward to engage him”. He told the inquest that his baton was in a raised position and he “crouched” down to use it.
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“I then strike Mr Tomlinson around the upper half of his right leg to his thigh with my baton,” Mr Harwood said. “I didn’t get any immediate reaction from Mr Tomlinson and I then pushed him on the top half of his right shoulder. I pushed him with my right palm.”
The officer added: “I was amazed he fell forward.” He said he pushed Mr Tomlinson to “encourage” him to move away. “I just assessed that he was not moving away from the police lines, and was encroaching on police lines, which is why I moved forward to engage him.���
He said that he had a split second to make the decision but there was a “thought process” to his actions. Asked by Alison Hewitt, counsel for the inquest, whether he thought that Mr Tomlinson was a threat, Mr Harwood said: “No, not to me.” Ms Hewitt asked: “To anyone else?” Mr Harwood replied: “No, I don’t believe I did, no.”
Minutes after being pushed to the ground, Mr Tomlinson collapsed and died.
Later Mr Harwood was questioned by Matthew Ryder, QC, for the family, who suggested that he was at the inquest only to help himself. “I am going to suggest you are trying to tell half truths, are exaggerating and deliberately painting a false picture of Mr Tomlinson’s actions,” he said.
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Mr Ryder said that if he wanted to help the family he could admit that what he had done to Mr Tomlinson was “unreasonable, unnecessary and excessive”. The officer replied: “If it is the case that I have in any way been the cause of Mr Tomlinson’s death then I am very sorry.”
Mr Harwood was also accused of asking Independent Police Complaints Commission investigators to “dig for discreditable material” on Mr Tomlinson, including looking into his lifestyle and any previous offences, which he denied.
The inquest, at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in Fleet Street, London, continues.