Police defend arrest of baseball bat-wielding man
Discussion
LBC said:
Viral social media footage shows the moment that a man carrying a baseball bat still wrapped in its covering was approached by a police officer and tackled to the ground.
The incident, on Market Street in central Manchester last Sunday (9 August), was watched by a large crowd of onlookers.
Several more officers can be seen arriving on motorbikes and the man is put in handcuffs and escorted into the back of a police van.
The incident drew a furious backlash on social media, with critics accusing the force of arresting the man despite "only just buying the bat from the shop".
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/man-arrested-manchester-baseball-bat-5HjdftX_2/The incident, on Market Street in central Manchester last Sunday (9 August), was watched by a large crowd of onlookers.
Several more officers can be seen arriving on motorbikes and the man is put in handcuffs and escorted into the back of a police van.
The incident drew a furious backlash on social media, with critics accusing the force of arresting the man despite "only just buying the bat from the shop".
Video is hilarious. What a joke our police force have become.
"However in a statement, Manchester Police said that the bat had been purchased the week before."
So in another world man walks down busy high street carrying a baseball bat and refuses to answer some simple questions.
If the Police do nothing and he goes on to attack someone everyone will be asking "why didn't the Police do something they literally watched him walk past".
There's an easy way and a hard way to deal with this and the bloke chose the hard way IMO.
So in another world man walks down busy high street carrying a baseball bat and refuses to answer some simple questions.
If the Police do nothing and he goes on to attack someone everyone will be asking "why didn't the Police do something they literally watched him walk past".
There's an easy way and a hard way to deal with this and the bloke chose the hard way IMO.
moanthebairns said:
I understand it was in the wrapper, could it be that he was going to return it, and they wouldn't accept the return.
"Yes officer I've just tried to return it to the store but they wouldn't take it back. Sports Direct. You can check with them."Like I said easy way and hard way.
The video is appalling
The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
butchstewie said:
moanthebairns said:
I understand it was in the wrapper, could it be that he was going to return it, and they wouldn't accept the return.
"Yes officer I've just tried to return it to the store but they wouldn't take it back. Sports Direct. You can check with them."Like I said easy way and hard way.
Earthdweller said:
The video is appalling
The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
My thoughts too. The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
The PC didn't have a clue about how to hold or restrain somebody or deal with the "weapon".
The man appeared not to have passed the attitude test. For reasons unknown. I suspect that it would not have got to this stage with many people.
A baseball bat in a thin plastic sleeve is no different to a bat without a thin plastic sleeve. It is basically just a heavy pole/stick.
Why wouldn't he put it in an opaque bag like a bin liner? Would anybody have noticed it.
Market St in Manchester is an odd place.
NB. In Florida he could have been openly carrying a firearm there without a permit, on the way home from fishing on the canal (which would require a permit, even in the US)
Edited by MC Bodge on Wednesday 12th August 09:32
moanthebairns said:
I wasn't questioning that, as I have not seen the interaction before. Hence why I snipped your quote. I'm providing a probable cause as to why he'd be carrying it a week after he's purchased it, up the toon, in a wrapper that nullifies the polices comment.
Sure but that's how a simple normal interaction could and probably would have gone IMO.Now perhaps that's what happened and the officer went all Dirty Harry - I don't think the officer covers himself well - but I'm also very cautious that we don't seem to have the whole video and I smell a bit of a rat with what I have seen.
butchstewie said:
moanthebairns said:
I wasn't questioning that, as I have not seen the interaction before. Hence why I snipped your quote. I'm providing a probable cause as to why he'd be carrying it a week after he's purchased it, up the toon, in a wrapper that nullifies the polices comment.
Sure but that's how a simple normal interaction could and probably would have gone IMO.Now perhaps that's what happened and the officer went all Dirty Harry - I don't think the officer covers himself well - but I'm also very cautious that we don't seem to have the whole video and I smell a bit of a rat with what I have seen.
moanthebairns said:
butchstewie said:
moanthebairns said:
I understand it was in the wrapper, could it be that he was going to return it, and they wouldn't accept the return.
"Yes officer I've just tried to return it to the store but they wouldn't take it back. Sports Direct. You can check with them."Like I said easy way and hard way.
Edited by moanthebairns on Wednesday 12th August 09:48
Earthdweller said:
The video is appalling
The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
Right? He only made the arrest because the lad didn't want to get in trouble by shoving him properly off him.The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
I think people should get extra credit when they allow these piss weak jobsworths to arrest them...
moanthebairns said:
moanthebairns said:
butchstewie said:
moanthebairns said:
I understand it was in the wrapper, could it be that he was going to return it, and they wouldn't accept the return.
"Yes officer I've just tried to return it to the store but they wouldn't take it back. Sports Direct. You can check with them."Like I said easy way and hard way.
Edited by moanthebairns on Wednesday 12th August 09:48
Wow, that's not a good look, that officer didn't look like he could punch his (her?) way out of a paper bag, there didn't seem to be much public support for what was going on and it was a mixed crowd of people, loving the guy holding the Jesus cross remonstrating with the police
The police have lost so much of the publics respect and support and they need to get it back but these incidents don't help, I hope he hasn't got any brexitity books at home...
moanthebairns said:
Another point could be that he purchased it online the week before and was collecting it that day. The receipt would show his transaction date. This reeks of not backing down, but doubling down from the police IMO.
I've experienced this first hand with the police, an idiot copper pulled me for speeding thinking it was a 40 limit, not realising it was a 70. The copper refused to accept that they had made a mistake and when I proved them wrong they tried to get me for something else, I proved them wrong on that too so the idiot copper kept on trying to get me for anything as they could not accept that they had made a mistake with the initial reason for the pull. Edited by moanthebairns on Wednesday 12th August 09:48
The inability to accept their fallibility is the polices biggest failing on both an individual and institutional level.
I wonder at what point people consider that the police should take action (if at all):
(1) If this was somebody that appeared to be a Muslim and he walked down the busy shopping area with a bat, would that be considered any differently?
(2) What if this same man arrested for the baseball bat incident had purchased a large kitchen knife (still in packaging and to use at home) and walked down the road with it in his hand?
(3) What if the person from (1) did what is in (2)?
Personally, knowing that area, I would not go and buy a bat (whether collect at store or not) and walk through that area. If I absolutely had to, I would use a bag to make it look less obvious. Same with a knife. It's an extremely difficult area to police and I don't think it is appropriate to expect the police to figure out whether I have the bat to take home to play baseball with or for other purposes.
I am also quite confident that if either was noticed by the police, a few moments of explanation would be sufficient. I don't think a video exists showing how the guy was behaving in the lead up to the incident nor how he first responded to the officer.
(1) If this was somebody that appeared to be a Muslim and he walked down the busy shopping area with a bat, would that be considered any differently?
(2) What if this same man arrested for the baseball bat incident had purchased a large kitchen knife (still in packaging and to use at home) and walked down the road with it in his hand?
(3) What if the person from (1) did what is in (2)?
Personally, knowing that area, I would not go and buy a bat (whether collect at store or not) and walk through that area. If I absolutely had to, I would use a bag to make it look less obvious. Same with a knife. It's an extremely difficult area to police and I don't think it is appropriate to expect the police to figure out whether I have the bat to take home to play baseball with or for other purposes.
I am also quite confident that if either was noticed by the police, a few moments of explanation would be sufficient. I don't think a video exists showing how the guy was behaving in the lead up to the incident nor how he first responded to the officer.
pghstochaj said:
I wonder at what point people consider that the police should take action (if at all):
(1) If this was somebody that appeared to be a Muslim and he walked down the busy shopping area with a bat, would that be considered any differently?
(2) What if this same man arrested for the baseball bat incident had purchased a large kitchen knife (still in packaging and to use at home) and walked down the road with it in his hand?
(3) What if the person from (1) did what is in (2)?
Personally, knowing that area, I would not go and buy a bat (whether collect at store or not) and walk through that area. If I absolutely had to, I would use a bag to make it look less obvious. Same with a knife. It's an extremely difficult area to police and I don't think it is appropriate to expect the police to figure out whether I have the bat to take home to play baseball with or for other purposes.
I am also quite confident that if either was noticed by the police, a few moments of explanation would be sufficient. I don't think a video exists showing how the guy was behaving in the lead up to the incident nor how he first responded to the officer.
1) would the police in Britain actually approach a Muslim carrying a baseball bat in this fashion, for fear of being labelled racist. (1) If this was somebody that appeared to be a Muslim and he walked down the busy shopping area with a bat, would that be considered any differently?
(2) What if this same man arrested for the baseball bat incident had purchased a large kitchen knife (still in packaging and to use at home) and walked down the road with it in his hand?
(3) What if the person from (1) did what is in (2)?
Personally, knowing that area, I would not go and buy a bat (whether collect at store or not) and walk through that area. If I absolutely had to, I would use a bag to make it look less obvious. Same with a knife. It's an extremely difficult area to police and I don't think it is appropriate to expect the police to figure out whether I have the bat to take home to play baseball with or for other purposes.
I am also quite confident that if either was noticed by the police, a few moments of explanation would be sufficient. I don't think a video exists showing how the guy was behaving in the lead up to the incident nor how he first responded to the officer.
2) last time I bought a set of knives I needed a Stanley and a pair of scissors to get through the packaging.
3) is Mohammad also carrying a Stanley to get them open.
Earthdweller said:
The video is appalling
The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
This..The PC is floundering and flailing about and has zero control .. awful to watch
Of course context is everything and we don't have it
Having a baseball bat is NOT an offence, carrying it in public is NOT an offence
However, like many an object it "could" be used as a weapon
The Police need to prove the person with the baseball bat had an intent to use it as a weapon
Let's see if he is charged with possession of an offensive weapon
“The officer tried to engage” with the man, the force said in a statement, but he “refused”, and he was detained and arrested.
GMP said the man was released with no further action.
“Enquiries found the bat was bought the previous week, but no intent could be proven and therefore no crime was committed,” the force said in a statement.
“Our Professional Standards Directorate has reviewed the footage, and no misconduct has been identified.”
Edited by Bigends on Wednesday 12th August 11:07
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