This is why I hate the Daily Mail

[TheTurbonator]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/video-1082579/Pol...

As far as I can see the police officer did nothing wrong. The driver failed to stop and then once he did the police acted as they are trained and took advantage of shock to disable the driver before he has chance to gather his thinking and to drive off again.

At the end of the day, a Range Rover is a big heavy car, the driver if he had wanted to, could have easily driven off and rammed any police car or officer who got in his way.

Okay so the driver was 74 and in reality probably didn't realise the police were behind trying to get him to pull over, but to the officer and to anyone watching the video without knowing the circumstances beforehand, I think it genuinely looks like a failure to stop.

Does beg the question though, how did the video ever become public in the first place because now the officer in question has resigned?

Follow up link here:
http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/458223/440k-compe...

Glad to see he got compensation but still the media seems to be portraying him as the bad guy.

Could the fking pensioner not just admit that maybe he shouldn't be on the road if he can't hear or respond to a police car following him for several miles with the sirens on?

[Monty Python]

If you hate it that much, why do you read it?

[Ari]

Big discussion in the 'Everything the Daily Mail Prints Is The Absolute Unadulterated Truth' forum here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[TheTurbonator]

Monty Python said:

If you hate it that much, why do you read it?

I don't, I was looking at the article in the "this is how you bang" thread and this was a featured story on the same page which grabbed my interest. I should have known better though.

Ari said:

Big discussion in the 'Everything the Daily Mail Prints Is The Absolute Unadulterated Truth' forum here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Wasn't aware of that.

[crispyshark]

isn't it a little bit of an overreaction made worse by the fact that he hits the window like a complete pansy?!...I'm not surprised he got bullied about it (obviously I wouldn't condone behavior like that ).

Also, WTF is the other copper doing by jumping on the bonnet and trying to boot the windshield in? Really?

Send in these guys next time!

[Ari]

TheTurbonator said:

Ari said:

Big discussion in the 'Everything the Daily Mail Prints Is The Absolute Unadulterated Truth' forum here:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Wasn't aware of that.

Anything Daily Mail, that's where you'll find people mindlessly getting their knickers in a twist about it without once pausing to consider that the Daily Mail exists to get such people's knickers in a twist, that's why they buy it.

[MG511]

I don't see why anyone reads the Daily Mail, or takes it seriously. A typical example of Mail double standards http://www.private-eye.co.uk/sections.php?section_...

[TheTurbonator]

crispyshark said:

isn't it a little bit of an overreaction made worse by the fact that he hits the window like a complete pansy?!...I'm not surprised he got bullied about it (obviously I wouldn't condone behavior like that ).

Also, WTF is the other copper doing by jumping on the bonnet and trying to boot the windshield in? Really?

That is what they are trained and told to do though. The driver led them on 17 minute long pursuit. When a driver stops or is forced to a stop after a pursuit, the police act quickly and aggressively to confuse the driver before he has time or chance to drive off again.

[carinaman]

It's a comic:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2285649/Pr...

Daily Mail website 28 February 2013 said:

Daily Mail journalist Stephen Wright has been honoured with a prestigious accolade for his 15 years of reporting on the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.

Judges at the Paul Foot Award for investigative journalism created a Special Campaign Award to present him in recognition of his outstanding work.

His initial investigation led to Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre famously branding the suspects ‘Murderers’, in a front page headline in February 1997.

You could try the South Wales Argus instead:

South Wales Argus 30 September 2004 said:

A PENSIONER who accused a Gwent police officer of assaulting him in a court case in July is to sue the force after being cleared of all the convictions against him.

Robert Clive Whatley, 64, was convicted of using insulting words and behaviour and motoring offences at Abergavenny magistrates court last July.

The key witness in the case against Mr Whatley was PC Jonathan Ellis, from Abergavenny, who last week pleaded guilty to stealing £80 from a purse handed to him while he was on duty.

from: http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/archive/2004/09/3...

[crispyshark]

TheTurbonator said:

That is what they are trained and told to do though. The driver led them on 17 minute long pursuit. When a driver stops or is forced to a stop after a pursuit, the police act quickly and aggressively to confuse the driver before he has time or chance to drive off again.

I appreciate it's probably how they are trained but surely you judge each event/incident on it's merits? Anyhow, I'm not going to dispute it as I'm not completely au fait with all the facts BUT he did hit the window like a pansy! lol.

Are the police trained to jump on the bonnet and (try to) kick in the windshield......doesn't seem like the best idea to me??

[DaveH23]

TheTurbonator said:

Okay so the driver was 74

He's probably about 80 now.

[carinaman]

He was 64 in 2004 when the charges against him were dropped as they were made by a PC that later stole £80 from a purse. So he's probably 74ish now.

80? If you double the speed of the 'pursuit' you get eighty.

Edited by carinaman on Friday 7th February 17:02

[RE92]

I imagine the footage would have been even more embarrassing if they had stopped the guy then politely asked for him to exit the car before the old guy decided to stay in the car and resume his journey for another 15min at 40mph.

I did think it was a bit OTT. The guy on the windscreen has clearly been watching too many American police films.

The Daily Fail is all about getting readers and their style of reporting seems to be working. If you want a good read then try The Economist.

[johnnyBv8]

TheTurbonator said:

That is what they are trained and told to do though. The driver led them on 17 minute long pursuit. When a driver stops or is forced to a stop after a pursuit, the police act quickly and aggressively to confuse the driver before he has time or chance to drive off again.

They were doing circa 30 mph and were a long way back from him, just maintaining the same speed - so despite from the siren the police driver didnt really give any indication that he wanted the RR to pull over. Complete over-reaction, including jumping on the bonnet. These kind of incidents give other police a bad name.

[Jaguar steve]

The bleating in The Wail is mindless rubbish - what else would you expect from that toilet paper?

The officers point of view is another. He's been filmed doing his job and he's been judged by others on the basis of that film. Now he could either have manned up a bit and waited for the banter and piss taking to naturally die down and just carried on doing his job which would have gained him nothing or decide to exploit the banter and piss taking to his advantage.

He chose to take offence and left the force. Morally that's the wrong decision but financially the right one as he's now got £440k in his pocket. That's a life changing sum which means he'll never have to work again.

'Fraid to say if the opportunity presented I'd do just the same.

[pad58]

£440k seems a awful lot of money considering what has been reported (bits we don't know).
I think that's far too much for a little ribbing.

[NicD]

I had same reaction but the chap explained he had his future contribution and tax taken off leaving him with (from memory) £280k.
Still a lot as it calculates pension pot at retirement age.

[TheTurbonator]

johnnyBv8 said:

TheTurbonator said:

That is what they are trained and told to do though. The driver led them on 17 minute long pursuit. When a driver stops or is forced to a stop after a pursuit, the police act quickly and aggressively to confuse the driver before he has time or chance to drive off again.

They were doing circa 30 mph and were a long way back from him, just maintaining the same speed - so despite from the siren the police driver didnt really give any indication that he wanted the RR to pull over. Complete over-reaction, including jumping on the bonnet. These kind of incidents give other police a bad name.

I'm sure I heard on the radio that it came over that the officer was told to hang back. If a failure to stop is driving at a reasonable speed, the last thing the police want to do is get too close and provoke him to drive faster or dangerously. Plenty of failure to stops happen at slow speeds when the drivers are drunk or high.

The actual chase went on for 17 minutes, are you seriously telling me that you wouldn't be a little curious or pull over at least once, if a police car was behind you for that length of time with its sirens on?

[standardman]

I seem to recall this was a man who was wanted by police and not a typical 74 year old !. A well known local crime barron.

[Willy Nilly]

standardman said:

I seem to recall this was a man who was wanted by police and not a typical 74 year old !. A well known local crime barron.

Hence the reason why he didn't stop?