A horrific video showing teenager, Anthony Green being run over by an unmarked police carhas been released for the first time since the incident in 1999.
The shocking footage, recorded from a police helicopter, shows Anthony cycling down Catherine Road pursued by two plainclothes police officers.
Anthony was unaware that they were police officers, who where carrying out surveillance on a property in Catherine Road, and when they told him to stop he had sped away on his bicycle. The video shows that one detective pursued him on foot then the second detective, DS Lawrence, joined the chase in his unmarked police car. In an attempt to shake-off his pursuers, Anthony turned left on to Bressingham Street. As he turned, he was knocked from his bike but he continued to run on foot. The car then swerved around the corner and ran over him. Anthony suffered a shattered thigh and other severe injuries. He was taken to hospital where, despite his injuries, the police insisted on strip-searching him. Nothing was found.
Lawrence was allowed to plead guilty to a minor motoring offence in March 2000, which meant not only that Anthony could not give evidence against him, and that the video was not shown to the Magistrates. Lawrence was never disciplined, despite representations from Anthony’s solicitor to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA); he was later promoted to sergeant and is still on active duty.
Anthony’s solicitor, Peter Mahy, said: “We have been acting for Mr Green in this case since 1999 and have known that video footage of the incident was in existence, and yet it has taken over six years for this vital evidence to be released to the public”.
The solicitors feel Anthony’s human rights have been contravened on the grounds that the PCA Investigation was unsatisfactory: it was not sufficiently independent, only limited attempts had been made to contact witnesses, there was no arena for the community to express their concern and there was no attempt to inquire into whether the police actions were racially motivated.
Mr Mahy now hopes for a fresh enquiry into why an innocent person was run over and vital evidence withheld. He said, “Now that this horrific video footage is in the public domain we believe that this whole case should be reviewed and reopened. We call upon the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) to take a fresh look at the case and the Home Secretary to order an independent inquiry. Given the video evidence, how can Mr Green or the public ever feel that justice has been done?”
Anthony viewed the video in 1999, and said afterwards: “It looks like the officers were trying to kill me”. The Messenger has also seen it, and it is difficult to disagree. Yet one witness had been told by West Yorkshire Police officers conducting the investigation on behalf of the PCA, that the video evidence was ‘inconclusive’.
We have supported Anthony’s quest for justice since our first issue, in July 1999, when we reported the campaign on our front page. This matter is of deep concern to the community and we urge the IPCC to look at the case again and support the demand for an independent inquiry.
The footage
The video footage is available to view here in MPV format. You will need Windows Media Player, Quicktime or another media player on your computer which can play MPV files.