Saturday, August 7, 2010

Aussie news for today





Robert Whatley, 70 years old, who had recently suffered a stroke, was shocked by two police officers’ brutality on his way back home. After stopping him for not wearing a seat belt, the policemen act aggressively by smashing on Mr. Whatley’s windscreen and dragging him out of his car. Mr. Whatley claimed that the police went completely over the top and act as he had robbed a bank. According to the traffic police, the reason behind the rude behavior was that Mr. Whatley tried to drive off while they were issuing him with a fine. With reference to this matter, Mr. Whatley defended himself by saying that he drove off because he was feeling vulnerable and was worried he was going to have another stroke. He thought the sirens and flashing lights were escorting him home rather than warning him to stop. The magistrate’s court fined Mr. Whatley guilty $408 for not wearing a seat belt, failing to stop for a police officer and failing to stop after an accident. Gwent Police said that the two officers had been suspended and that the incident was being investigated.

Robert Whatley's terrifying arrest was caught on video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhmOHjNdMxM&feature=player_embedded) and the footage shows one officer jumping on the car bonnet and kicking the windscreen and the other hitting the glass with his baton 15 times until it smashed.

Comment:

In my opinion, both parties were responsible to this incident. Traffic police should not behave in an aggressive manner towards a driver. Emotion should have been better controlled. While for the careless driving, he should be penalized for trying to escape from the police arrest. As what he claimed for the escape, I think it did not sound reasonable. If the traffic police are really on job to escort him home, why did the police try to stop him? Perhaps he was trying to excuse himself from the penalty.

What do you think?




1 comment:

  1. It's a bit fishy on the behaviour of the driver. However, if I put myself into the driver's shoes, I might want to escape too when i see two policemen try to attack me. ^^

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