Editor’s note: FireRescue1 Editor Rick Markley looks at how both sides in this story erred and urges firefighters to carefully consider when to get involved with police situations.
By Bart Chan
The Voice
LONDON — A fireman who claims he was abused, beaten and tasered by police officers in 2011 has had his complaint taken on by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). On September 4, 2011, Edric Kennedy-Macfoy, from north London, was driving through Harrow, northwest London, around 3.45am when the incident took place. The fireman claimed he was trying to assist police after he witnessed a young male throw a brick at a police van.
However, police arrested Kennedy-Macfoy for police obstruction and resisting arrest. Kennedy-Macfoy, writing on social media site Facebook, said police first verbally abused him with “f**k off, you pr**k” when he stopped to offer help.
The situation escalated with officers, according to his account, reaching into his car and attempting to pull him out. He claimed he managed to break free, remove his car keys from the ignition and place them in his pocket, before running from his “£30,000 ($45,500) vehicle”, managing to evade “the grasp of the slow and unfit officers.”
Full story: IPCC takes on fireman’s police brutality complaint