Ian Tomlinson (1962–2009) was an English newspaper vendor who collapsed
and died in the City of London on his way home from work during the
G-20 summit protests. A first postmortem examination suggested he had
suffered a heart attack and had died of natural causes, but his death
became controversial a week later when The Guardian obtained footage of
his last moments, filmed by an American investment fund manager who was
visiting London. The video shows Tomlinson being struck on the leg from
behind by a police officer wielding an expandable baton, then pushed to
the ground by the same officer. It appears to show no provocation on
Tomlinson's part—he was not a protester, and at the time he was struck,
the footage shows him walking along with his hands in his pockets. He
walked away from the incident but died moments later. After the
newspaper published the video, the Independent Police Complaints
Commission (IPCC) began a criminal inquiry from which the police were
removed, and ordered a second postmortem, this one indicating that
Tomlinson had died from an abdominal haemorrhage, the cause of which
remains unknown. The IPCC completed its investigation in August 2009
and passed its file to the Crown Prosecution Service. A police officer
has been interviewed on suspicion of manslaughter but has not been
named or charged. The incident sparked an intense debate in the UK
about what appeared to be a deteriorating relationship between the
police and the public, the degree to which the IPCC is independent of
the police, and the role of citizens in monitoring police and
government activity—so-called sousveillance.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Ian_Tomlinson>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1854:
U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry and the Tokugawa shogunate signed
the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to
American trade.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa>
1889:
The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris, becoming a global icon of
France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>
1917:
The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United
States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Virgin_Islands>
1930:
To avoid government censorship, Hollywood movie studios instituted
their own set of industry censorship guidelines, popularly known as the
Hays Code.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Production_Code>
1995:
Mexican American singer Selena, known as "The Queen of Tejano music",
was shot and killed in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the president of her
fan club, Yolanda Saldívar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selena>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
even Homer nods (proverb):
Not even the most vigilant and expertly are immune from erring
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/even_Homer_nods>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Cogito ergo sum
I think, therefore I am.
--René Descartes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes>