Black And Blue: Police Row Over Who Gets To Drive The Van
WHEN PC Aled Bartlett was given the keys to the police van, with its state-of-the-art radio, he was pleased.
A picture of PC Bartlett features in the Daily Mail, and it shows him to be a large framed man with a mop of curly hair and ruddy cheeks. Were he to laugh, it would do wonders for morale and the advancement of community policing.
PC Byron Emerson-Thomas is not laughing. It is said he is a “bit upset”
The source of the upset is not PC Byron’s name, rather his car, which is a panda car with blue feminine-shaped light and limited power.
As prosecutor Mark Spackman tells Newport Crown Court: “This was a petty dispute or squabble about who was going to drive the police van that night.”
It is alleged that PC Emerson-Thomas did punch PC Bartlett in the arm, causing his tea to spill. Bartlett says he reached for the paper towels. PC Emerson-Thomas is said to have used the towels to “wipe the tea down his colleague’s arm” and face.
“Boys leave it there,” says a voice. But no. PC Emerson-Thomas is said to have punched PC Bartlett in the head, causing a cut that required eight stitches.
PC Bartlett admits to throwing a two-litre bottle of water into PC Emerson-Thomas’s chest, which PC Emerson-Thomas caught in one hand, while holding a cup of tea in his other hand.
PC Bartlett than knocked the tea out of PC Emerson-Thomas’s hand, “so he wouldn’t be able to throw it over me.”
PC Bartlett says the pair were once friends and “had made plans to go to Lionel Richie concert together.”
Were the police to get their way and all officers go about equipped with CCTV camera in their ears, we would doubtless be treated to this exchange via a video sharing website, the action slowed down while Metropolitan Police chief, Sir Ian Blair, gives a voice over: “Head shots are advisable this instance, but some officers prefer a club to the midriff or pepper spray to the mouth. We allow officer to use their discretion.”
But all we get is the mental images. And to see the frustrsation and boiling rage within the drivers of police panda cars. And wonder at the volcanicity and pent up rage burning inside police on push bikes…
The case continues.
Posted: 20th, February 2008 | In: Tabloids Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
