On Sunday morning, Mark Edwards was arrested for trespassing after a domestic dispute. During the arrest, police wrestled him to the ground. In the process, they broke his neck. They then left him to lie paralysed on the floor of a cell for nine hours, before finally getting him medical attention the next day.
This is absolutely obscene. There is simply no other word for it. There is only one way someone's neck gets broken during an arrest, and that is if the arresting officers use excessive force. To then ignore the results and leave their victim in agony shows a callous disregard for the care of prisoners in their custody. This is not behaviour we should tolerate in our police force - or indeed in any police force.
But I'm sure the Police Complaints Authority will issue the usual whitewash and say that everyone followed procedure, the force used wasn't excessive, and everything is OK. In which case we'll have to ask: how much force is excessive, if they can break a man's neck and get away with it?
