Ian Tomlinson (1962–2009) was an English newspaper vendor who collapsed and died in the City of London on his way home from work during the G-20 summit protests. A first postmortem examination suggested he had suffered a heart attack and had died of natural causes, but his death became controversial a week later when The Guardian obtained footage of his last moments, filmed by an American investment fund manager who was visiting London. The video shows Tomlinson being struck on the leg from behind by a police officer wielding an expandable baton, then pushed to the ground by the same officer. It appears to show no provocation on Tomlinson's part—he was not a protester, and at the time he was struck, the footage shows him walking along with his hands in his pockets. He walked away from the incident but died moments later. After the newspaper published the video, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry from which the police were removed, and ordered a second postmortem, this one indicating that Tomlinson had died from an abdominal haemorrhage, the cause of which remains unknown. The IPCC completed its investigation in August 2009 and passed its file to the Crown Prosecution Service. A police officer has been interviewed on suspicion of manslaughter but has not been named or charged. The incident sparked an intense debate in the UK about what appeared to be a deteriorating relationship between the police and the public, the degree to which the IPCC is independent of the police, and the role of citizens in monitoring police and government activity—so-called sousveillance.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1854: U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa> 1889: The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower> 1917: The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands> 1930: To avoid government censorship, Hollywood movie studios instituted their own set of industry censorship guidelines, popularly known as the Hays Code. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code> 1995: Mexican American singer Selena, known as "The Queen of Tejano music", was shot and killed in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the president of her fan club, Yolanda Saldívar. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: even Homer nods (proverb): Not even the most vigilant and expertly are immune from erring <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/even_Homer_nods> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: Cogito ergo sum I think, therefore I am. --René Descartes <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
