Unbelievable, Have You Seen This Police Brutality?
Shameful and inexcusable scenes show a war hero who served his country in Iraq and Afghanistan fearing for his life amid a violent and unprovoked assault by police.
Lance Corporal Mark Aspinall – highly praised by his commanding officer for bravery against the Taliban in Afghanistan – was set upon by three uniformed officers on his home town High Street.
The sickening attack – caught in forensic detail on CCTV – led a crown court judge to label it one of the worst examples of police aggression he had ever seen. Yet, in a travesty of justice, it was Mark who was at first convicted by magistrates of attacking the policemen.. despite the video footage clearly showing he was the victim.
Last night, Mark, 24, who had 14 head and face injuries, said: “I was scared for my life. I was being battered and my head was being pushed into the ground.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’m going to die here. I can’t believe I’ve survived Afghanistan and Iraq and and now I’m going to die on this main road in my home town at the hands of the police’.
“Yet I was the one who ended up in the dock, not the officers.”
Mark was convicted by magistrates of two counts of police assault – and his ordeal only ended when Crown Court judge John Phipps watched the damning footage and quashed the verdict on appeal.
He said: “I am shocked and appalled at the level of police violence shown here”, adding that he had “great concerns” about the footage and effectively branding the policemen liars by saying: “I would go as far as to say the statements (by the officers) contain untruths.”
The nine-minute video shows PC Peter Lightfoot punching Mark eight times.
Mark had been out for drinks with friends in Wigan, Lancs, and left the town’s Walkabout bar at 2.40am on Sunday July 27. Police had been called to deal with a man said to be causing a nuisance to paramedics.
Special constable Lightfoot, 39 – a volunteer officer whose main job is as a van driver – and his two colleagues wrongly believed Mark was their man. He explained he had done nothing wrong, but they chased him and threw him to the floor.
“They asked me what I was doing and I told them I was just standing around. They came up and pushed me and I said ‘Don’t f***ing touch me’.
“I had been drinking, I was pretty leathered, I know that… but I was NOT being violent.”
The footage opens with an unsteady Mark drunkenly standing in the street and calling out to the officers.
As can be clearly seen, he stands 10ft from them in the middle of the road as they stand on the pavement.
Suddenly, the three officers move as one and start running across the road towards Mark.
Startled, he falls over and as he gets to his feet one officer rugby-tackles him, while the other two help bundle him to the ground. Then the vicious assault begins.
PC Lightfoot, who weighs more than 20st, bangs Mark’s head on the road twice before leaning over and shouting into his ear, while his two colleagues kneel on Mark’s legs.
Mark, in pain, tries to kick out and bites one of the officer’s legs in self-defence.
click here
His punishment is fierce and immediate. The officer pushes his booted foot in Mark’s face while PC Lightfoot grabs his hair and repeatedly scrapes his face on the tarmac.
Even though Mark is lying unmoving on the ground, PC Lightfoot punches him twice, checks to see who is watching, then punches him another six times on the back and shoulders.
The eight pump-action blows come in eight seconds. PC Lightfoot stops the beating only as people driving past slow down to watch. The footage shows Mark pinned to the floor for a total of five minutes and 16 seconds. The most brutal section lasts for one minute 35 seconds.
Eventually, Mark was bundled into a police van in handcuffs, taken to Wigan police station and kept in custody for 20 hours.
He was charged with two counts of police assault and a public order offence – swearing at the officers. On September 22, at Wigan magistrates court, the three officers read statements to the court that Mark had been “behaving violently” and “issued challenges”.
Three JPs found Mark guilty of the two assaults – despite viewing the footage. In a final insult, he was ordered to pay PC Lightfoot £100 in compensation and one of the other officers £150.
He was also ordered to serve 200 hours community service and given a three-month suspended prison sentence. Mark, who returned from Afghanistan in February and was working his notice in the Army at the time of attack, said: “I went in to the Army thinking this country was worth fighting for.
“I put my life on the line every day in Afghanistan, so to come back and be treated like this for no reason was just so depressing. My plan was to join the fire service when I came out of the Army – but I was rejected because of my conviction. It meant I was unemployable for anything I wanted to do.”
Determined to clear his name, Mark lodged an appeal. And at Liverpool cro
Some interesting footage on your links. Have you got any showing members of the public shouting and swearing at the Police or beating up the Police when they go out on duty to protect the public? Probably not and nothing like that is ever sensationalised by the tabloids to show the thuggery of the sort of people the Police have to deal with on a daily basis.
I also see with interest that the link showing the footage from when Mr Aspinall was arrested has a very quick break in it, which you would miss if you weren’t watching carefully. Having watched this footage on the news it showed Mr Aspinall shouting and jabbing his arm towards the officers with the reporting highlighting Mr Aspinalls abusive behaviour prior to his arrest. Strange that this is missing from the footage on this link…
It also states on this link that whilst Mr Lightfoot was punching Mr Aspinall, the other 2 officers were kneeling on his legs. From what I could see only one officer was restraining his legs whilst the other applied handcuffs. Sensationalism again maybe?
I’m not going to condone the actions by the Police in this instance as it would be difficult for me to do so. I, as with so many more people who may comment, was not there and didn’t know or see or hear fully what went on prior to this footage being recorded.
Its up to Mr Lightfoot and the other officers to justify their own actions (as with all officers) and to be honest, they may find that difficult to do with what we are seeing here.
I will however reserve judgement until the IPCC have, quite justifiably, done their investigation and reached a verdict.
I wasn’t going to reply but having read the rubbish put forward by ‘carswood’ the uk cop in defence of three thugs I am. Police officers of this type clearly should be prosecuted in law I also think if indeed he (carswood) is a police officer he should know the difference between a Crown Court Judge and a magistrate.
Sadly I think a large bucket of whitewash is being prepared.
Unfortunately this is becoming the norm in Gordon Brown’s police state. Soon opposition MPs will be getting the same treatment if they don’t agree with the new dictatorship. This behaviour comes from the arrogance of being in power for too long.
welcome to fascist police state britain. Police and magistrates are just stealth tax collecting scum.
It’s disgusting mate. No wonder people call them ‘Pigs’!
So all returning Army squaddies are hero angels and all uniform Police officers are thugs. Well not really. Many soldiers have a habit of getting drunk and wanting to fight anyone including Police. Many Police officers have served in the armed forces and fought for their country.
These officers were part timers not so much ill trained as the training is generally insufficient anyway. However much more likely lacking experience. It is notoriously difficult to restrain a large strong adult. Members of the public see police doing it and in their ignorance can’t understand the safest way to do it is to overwhelm with numbers. Officers don’t wish to lose a tooth or take time off with injuries so rubber necking civilians can be assured they are not bullying violent drunks.
I suspect the officer concerned lost his temper. It happens. They are human after all. Should he be a Police officer (part time)? absolutely not. He’s proved he is not suitable. Does he represent the majority of Police officers? Of course he doesn’t.
However there is a overreaction going on here. The young females commentary to the above clip is so anti Police it is almost laughable. You would think they were cutting his throat, as if he were a hostage in the Middle East.
What Police authorities need to realise is using hobby bobbies (part timers) is fraught with problems. Many are very good but most don’t have the experience required to patrol without Professional officers supervising them.
Also this was never a question anyway but the usual YA anti Police rant. You ought be grateful occasionally. This country (UK) is still one of the safest places to walk the streets in the developed world.
Throughout this “beating” he is resisting arrest. The officer that needs speaking to is the one who rubs his head on the floor. That is inappropriate. The punches to the body are within police guidelines, he tries to deaden the males arm to allow the other officer to place him in cuffs. If someone can come up with a better way to fight drunken idiots without the officers being injured then step forward, as of yet there is no other way. You have to match their violence with your own. Unfortunately this retard picked on 3 police officers who were not drunk.
His statement about fearing for his life, what a load of rubbish. I thought he was a war hero? War heroes don’t get pissed up and give grief to officers who are trying to secure the scene where paramedics are trying to help an injured person.
This “hero” is typical of today’s booze culture and deserves to be punished.
Lets not forget the offences…public order, resisting arrest and assault police. Lucky for this drunk he had a soft magistrate/judge otherwise you wouldnt have heard about all this.
The Three Police Officers are guilty of a brutal assault and should be suspended from duty pending a full investigation and Disciplinary action. They should show cause why they should not be dishonourably discharged from service .They have brought disgrace to the Uniform and the Force. Dismissal is the only conclusion that can be appropriate.
Okay, firstly, let’s not all assume by this incident that all police officers like this. Some of you have given some ridiculous answers and don’t deserve to breath to be honest.
Just from the video alone, regardless of anything the victim did, Lightfood should be sacked because the way he handled it was really ridiculous, I mean you can clearly see him knocking his head on the floor, not once, but twice. There was absolute no need for that behaviour. Oh and then the sneeky whispering, who knows what was said, but clearly the officer did not want eye witnesses to hear.
So yeah this is without a doubt police brutality, but please don’t be mistaken in believing they all abuse their powers like this.
Some of you have given such disturbing answers, such as “?”, who makes an absurd claim that no officer in the UK has been charged of police misconduct. I don’t know who told you that, but you’re wrong.
Oh and also that we shouldnt have police officers.. uh yeah okay, let’s leave road accidents deal with themselves yeah? let’s just let people drive past a crash scene and find out for themselves if their relatives have been killed by witnessing their faces splashed on their windscreen yeah… come on now, don’t be so ignorant.
PS, You’re all forgetting, including myself that lightfood isnt even a real officer. Exactly why I strongly oppose these officers.
I had an occasion to face magistrates over a parking ‘offence’ some years back, in spite of my plea that the road markings were worn and unkempt I was fined for illegal parking.
Others I note have been let off because the markings were ont deemed legal but these people had solicitors fighting their corner.
I have also come across some pretty stupid coppers in my day but even they would never act like this UNDER the view of cameras…. this needs to go to the highest government department and be dealt with fairly ..like give the plod the sack.
Probablyhappens more than peole think. Police were definitely out of order here and now that there’s a video maybe they will get charged and taken to court and end up doing time. I hope so as I’ve been inside for ABH and this is worse than what I did especially as they’re cops.
It’s an absolute disgrace and this Lightfoot character, who is not a real Police Officer, but what is termed a plastic policeman should be charged immediately with assault. I know a very similar Special Constable who is nothing more than a bully who hides behind a uniform, this person broke a guy’s arm , but the guy sued him and won and I hope Mark does the same. We don’t need this sort of thuggery from people acting on behalf of the Police, there is enough violence on the streets already. It doesn’t matter if Mark was drunk or whatever, this made me feel physically sick and to think these people are wearing the Queen’s uniform what is this country coming to.
typical bully boy police tactics,
ive seen it plenty of times first hand
i really hate these people so arrogant,
they love to abuse there position then get back to the station and get there heads together and come up with some **** and bull story
the worst thing is they normally get away with it,one evening they literally battered my mate then had the cheek to charge him with assault on the police because one of em had bruised hands where he’d been beating my pal,that’s the truth,i hope this guy successfully sues the police force and that fat lump that was punching him loses his job and goes to prison,the police force are the biggest criminal gang in the uk.
As an ex British soldier and now legally trained in security i am ashamed when i see acts like these which clearly show 3 hooligans who i will not refer to as police officers attacking and once down acting like thugs on an individual who unlike them served his country, i am not surprised that Mark was convicted at the magistrates as its well known its a police court but am happy that the crown court judge applied the right justice and thus clearing Mark and opening the way for him to join the fire service. Those hooligans again i refuse to call them police officers, and others like them who abuse the uniform they wear should be removed from service and receive a substantial prison sentence, there are some police men who commit acts like this and obviously believe they are above the law happily in this case the matter was caught on CCTV, i strongly feel that had this not been the case the results would have gone against Mark. Police like this are a disgrace and worse than a proper criminal, and as someone who saw active duty on both regions like Mark i am ashamed that a soldier returns home to encounter thugs who wear a uniform but are nothing more than criminals.
EDIT. Danbospd you had to be copper maybe the way you do things in the states and then go and play with your trains, restraining the head has nothing to do with bouncing it of the road and the scraping it then throwing unnessary punches. This is England yank so make your twat comments somewhere else
I watched this in horror, these officers (if you can call them that)should be brought before the courts for sentence, But also it does give rise to the question had the magistrates earlier seen the cctv?, if so their judgements also in question, if they had not seen the cctv why not, who had this evidence prior to it being made known to the presiding legal authority.??
Does Not look good, I have no doubt that the member of the public in the video is gobbing off at the old bill but that is well over the top. The coppers are SPECIALS. Untrained members of the public who should have never been out there. Blame the MP’s and government who allow this shite. It gives the police a bad name and the Daily mail readers on this site are loving it
you can see what kind of spineless yahoo posters on Yahoo stilltrying to sqirm and wriggle with excuses one was a special!!These police reprobates want #1sacking #2charged with assault #3 locked up in a nick and the cons kick the excrement out of their rather large stomachs.I have had numerous batterings off them and far worse injuries,the fact is this;he is WHITE and if he’d been from Iraq or whatever,the media would have made a Rodney King out of it(that sparked off riots in Los Angeles,sickeng pond life,not one of the gutless public stopped to help the poor sod,thanks for the link cos id never have heard of it!!
Completely unacceptable Police action.
But I do note that one of the so called police officers was a ‘Special Constable’
Why would someone in their right mind parade in a police uniform as a special. If its power he wants he should join the proper police force where hopefully he would be trained properly to deal with situations like this.Unfortunately common sense is no longer allowed in the police force because they have to produce Targets.
I for one am very proud of Mark for his service to his country and I hope he will manage in the near future not to tar all the police with the same brush.
Good luck in your future Mark.
The Filth have always acted in this manner and get away with it. No police officer in the UK has ever been suspended or bought to trial for their so called ‘professionalism’ or conduct. They have unwritten power to do what the hell they like and when ever their conduct is questioned their cronies in management will back them.
The Filth are a complete waste of taxpayers money, a career for people who were bullied at school, they are bent, they stitch up innocent people, incompetent, corrupt and could not solve even the most simplest of crimes.
They are the Filth.
All three officers should be charged with assualt causing actual bodily harm and if found guilty discharged from the police.
The magistrates should be sacked as they clearly do not dispense justice based on evidence.
It doesn’t pay to mouth off to bobbies.
Im not sure what your question is. It’s just a direct cut and paste from a newspaper website ?
You can’t hear what’s going on, and you have no facts as to what happened just before the incident took place. The fact he was not the person causing problems for the paramedics is irrelevant, because he then went on to be abusive to three uniformed Officers in the street. This is unacceptable from a British Army Soldier.
Yes, the SC seems to have been quite over the top with the face scraping on the floor, but the person being arrested was resisting being placed in handcuffs, as shown by the Officer in the bottom right of the three struggling with his arm.
He bites one of the Officers during the course of the struggle before finally being handcuffed.
This is an intoxicated, trained solder, being abusive and threatening, inflaming tensions in the area around him and place the Officers in further danger.
More concerning to me is the Judge’s comments regarding the statements of the Officers effectively being lies. This was the biggest downfall of the case, but the focus as always is on the sensationalist footage.
The comments of the solider were “They asked me what I was doing and I told them I was just standing around. They came up and pushed me and I said ‘Don’t f***ing touch me”. This is clearly at odds with the CCTV footage, which shows him gobbing off, the Officers make a decision to arrest, he runs away and trips up as a result of his intoxication.
I can’t see that the Officers used things like pressure points to control the subject, and moving to strikes on a restrained subject is very difficult to justify – especially when the explanation is described by the judge as ‘lies’.
It’s also interesting that the Officers in the road are described as looking around ‘to see if anyone was looking’. It would be quite obvious to the Officers that people were looking at them, and it is much more likely that they were concerned about being hit by moving vehicles.
To be honest, I think they’re all poor representatives for their professions.
I bet you would have voted for Obama also – what you have here is an active resistor – someone actively trying to defeat arrest and here is how.
He runs when the officers close in for arrest – resisting
He fights – actively will not allow to be handcuffed
Guess what guys – this is street fight that can easily turn into a fight for survival – an officers life.
You gulf war hero looks to me to have been over indulging in some fine British spirits – and his injuries are what happens when you chose to fight the police and loose.
People turn off the volume and watch it – and you can see the situation a bit clearer – the entire time he was on the ground – he cound not be cuffed and controlling the head is a fundamental way to control a resister – who knows what he was saying or doing – ever been bit or spit on by people?
Maybe you should stick to another place in YA