Police smash 71yr old Pensioners car for not wearing seatbelt

A bit much for not wearing a seatbelt? Perhaps!
They guy didn't stop straight away, fair enough! But why smash up the car? Also the police forcebly made a passer-by delete thier mobile phone footage of the incident.
One policeman is jumping up and down on the bonnet and the other takes like 20 goes to smash the window.
Check out the video, no wonder no-one respects the police when they cant act in a professional manner under pressure.
To me it looks like thier tempers are taking control rather than thier police training.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10888435
 
Two police officers have been taken off operational duty while the Independent Police Complaints Commission investigates how they dealt with a pensioner who it was alleged had driven off after being stopped for not wearing his seat belt.
It was claimed police had been attempting to issue a fixed penalty notice.
There have been claims the 70-year-old driver's car window was smashed.
One officer is shown in police video footage hitting the window of Robert Whatley's Range Rover and another jumping on the bonnet to kick the windscreen.
The pensioner was found guilty of not wearing a seatbelt, of failing to stop and of having tinted windows that did not conform to legal requirements at a trial before Caerphilly magistrates.
Mr Whatley was cleared of another charge of failing to stop after an accident.
Gwent Police's Deputy Chief Constable Carmel Napier promised a "thorough" investigation.
"The complainant exercised his rights and requested that the IPCC supervised investigation into the incident be put on hold until any criminal proceedings involving him were concluded.
"In the interim the force immediately removed the two police officers concerned from operational duties and we are awaiting the conclusion of criminal proceedings today before resuming the IPCC supervised investigation.
"Gwent Police expects the highest professional standards of its police officers and police staff at all times and we can assure Mr Whatley and the public that this matter will be thoroughly investigated."
 

  Revenue Collection is something the Police take very seriously - remember £70 is £70 !  its not something trivial that can be dealt with in due course , like theft or assault. 
 
 

honestly that makes me see red, disgusted

Dr Z


  Revenue Collection is something the Police take very seriously - remember £70 is £70 !  its not something trivial that can be dealt with in due course , like theft or assault. 

I feel the dry seething contemptuous sarcasm for the local authority, no doubt from your recent dealings with the local council Z

They didn't smash his window "for not wearing a seatbelt", they smashed his window because he failed to stop.
If this had been some 17 year old boy racer in a suped up chav-mobile, it wouldn't even be an issue.
If you don't want to be forced to stop, then stop when asked, thats the law.
He was given plenty of chances, they followed him for ages IIRC

think thats been posted up here before, ive def seen it before a while ago.
looks like a massive over reaction to me but dont know all the details.
 
for me im always torn between how the police are doing a very difficult and thankless job, how hard it must be etc, but then what i see, read about etc then makes me think what a bunch of jumped up...
dont do themselves any favors imo.
 

I did say that he failed to stop and in that respect yeah the guy deserves to be arrested an prosecuted 100%. You get the sirens behind you, you stop for the police thats the law.
 
But I cant help wondering that regardless of the failure to stop, once they had him stopped the police then behaved like bunch of jumped up little vandals, thier reaction is not at all professional, and to be honest its rather pathetic looking at them. We expect a certain standard of behaviour from people we are afterall paying to do a public service, and this falls well short of that.
 
Also the "proper geezer" in me is thinking why cant this little boy in a uniform smash a car window in one hit from a metal baton.....if he cant even break glass, he couldnt arrest a proper crook anyway

he failed to stop,then locked himself in the car(otherwise the officer would of opened the door not smashed the window in)
 
i dont see a problem with what they did myself.
 
they dont know if he is a criminal or not do they.
 
ive always though the police are to soft here in the uk,its about time they stopped pussy footing around.
 
any other country no one would bat an eye.

lets also assume there was 10-20 seconds before that clip started where they gave him ample time to step out of the vehicle,i doubt they just rushed up and started bashing it.
 
i would like to see the whole clip from the moment the vehicle stopped.

Yeah to be fair to them there are other clips and they are after the car for a good few minutes with sirens on before he finally stops.

"There have been claims the 70-year-old driver's car window was smashed."
 
claims?! what a ridiculous thing for the article to say below the video :p

meat 05


he failed to stop,then locked himself in the car(otherwise the officer would of opened the door not smashed the window in)

i dont see a problem with what they did myself.

they dont know if he is a criminal or not do they.

ive always though the police are to soft here in the uk,its about time they stopped pussy footing around.

any other country no one would bat an eye.

i disagree, we pretty much see the officer come right up and aim a baton at the window, at no point did i see him try the door first to see if it was unlocked
 
he failed to stop and should be dealt with accordingly, but i would expect the police to exhaust any non-violent option first (ie trying to open the door by using the door handle) before aiming a baton at his window
 
the police have a tough job - but when in the uniform they should exercise restraint - if you're the kind of person who gets riled up easy then maybe police is not for you

This was on the news the other day, he had £20,000 or something like that compensation from it

in fact for those speculating that the police "probably didnt just run up and start bashing his window" the pursuit and the end of the pursuit is on youtube and thats exactly what they do, he stops, the copper in the hi vis jacket just runs up and starts smashing

Don't know the whole story, maybe the guy was a top drug lord, a pedo, anything ? just cause he's a pensioner don't mean he aint a cnut !  I'm inclined to go with the cops until I know the whole story !

This is old now and been discussed before. When you see how long they chased him for with sirens and lights flashing then I'm under the impression that it's a pretty standard procedure to smash windows and windscreens to disorientate the driver and to stop them driving off again. As somebody said before, if it were me at 36 years old doing the same thing everybody would have said I deserved it.

just speculating Desmo, if it was your dad / grandad and he was a bit confussed or somewhat frightened by it all would you think it justified then ?

Possibly not. I'm not saying the old guy is supposed to enjoy it, I just don't see why the police always come in for a hiding based on "pensioner wasn't wearing seatbelt" when there's far more to it than that. I've seen the full footage on TV and they chased him with lights and sirens for ages. Who knows why he drove off? Maybe he had a firearm in the car? Another weapon? Drugs? Are the police supposed to walk up to him and knock on his window and politely ask him to step out after he's already done one runner?
 
Do I like it? No. Would I like it done to a member of my family? No. Do I think it's sometimes necessary? Yes.

 My problem is more that the Police don't tend to show this kind of enthusiasm in other circumstances. 

fair points and i agree with you on the whole.
does seem like a massive over reaction to me and as Dr Z rightly points out the way other events are pussy footed around its ridiculous really.
 
Although maybe and old guy is easier to act like rambo around.