Another ugly development in a very ugly story. Again, newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson made the mistake of walking home during the G-20 event in London and passing by the London Metropolitan police. After trying one route and finding it blocked he made his way through another when he was struck and beaten by police. Thanks to a visiting New York fund manager who happened to film the episode and turn it over to The Guardian, what would have been swept under the rug and ignored is now a serious problem. The autopsy of Ian Tomlinson has shown the cause of death was internal bleeding and not the heart attack.
The second postmortem was conducted by Dr Nat Cary, who was able to scrutinise video evidence before conducting his examination. In a statement last night, City of London coroners court said Dr Cary had provisionally concluded that internal bleeding was the cause of Tomlinson's death. "Dr Cary's opinion is that the cause of death was abdominal haemorrhage. The cause of the haemorrhage remains to be ascertained.The Metropolitan police need to shape up quickly and send a clear message that they can accept change.
"Dr Cary accepts that there is evidence of coronary atherosclerosis but states that in his opinion its nature and extent is unlikely to have contributed to the cause of death."
Jules Carey, the lawyer acting for Tomlinson's family, said: "The video footage of the unprovoked and vicious assault on Ian by the police officer would easily justify charges of assault being brought against the officer. The findings of Dr Nat Cary significantly increase the likelihood that the officer will now face the more serious charge of manslaughter."
