RR Phantom
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 |  Subject: Brother of British "lord" sues over Sydney station arrest  Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:07 pm | |
| A SYDNEY businessman is taking legal action after he was allegedly knocked unconscious three times by police and transit officers at Town Hall station.
Mark Girvan, 51, will sue RailCorp and NSW Police for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and damages after he awoke in St Vincent's Hospital with head injuries.
Mr Girvan - whose brother is "Lord" Justice Paul Girvan of the Northern Ireland "Court of Appeal," a British peer - alleges the assaults left him anxious, depressed and contemplating suicide.
High-profile barrister Geoff Bellew, SC, has been briefed by Mr Girvan's law firm, Etheringtons Solicitors.
Etheringtons' associate Flo Mitchell has written to Mr Girvan, saying: "It appears you have sufficient injury as a result of the incident with Railcorp to warrant an award of damages in your favour."
Mr Girvan, of Killarney Heights, alleges he was twice slammed to the ground on a platform at Town Hall late on September 15, 2006, hitting his head. He suffered another head injury while being escorted along George Street to a police van.
The father of two, who said he had four beers on the night, said he went to the aid of a man who had collapsed on the platform. He admitted he swore at two women who were laughing as he tried to assist the man.
Three Transit Officers arrived; two forced his arms behind his back. Mr Girvan believes the officers assumed he had assaulted the unconscious man.
The officers, in sworn statements seen by The Sun-Herald, said they had to restrain Mr Girvan because he was unsteady on his feet near the edge of a platform as a train approached. They said he refused to supply his name so they contacted the police. Mr Girvan said he asked for police to be called because he was worried about the actions of the transit officers.
CCTV footage, obtained under Freedom of Information, shows Mr Girvan being forcibly restrained by four transit officers. But footage of him attending to the unconscious man was not kept by RailCorp.
In a statement, a transit officer said that after Mr Girvan was stopped from boarding a train he attempted to bite another officer.
Mr Girvan, who admitted calling the officers "Nazi storm troopers", alleges as he tried to leave to catch a taxi, "I was crushed and kneed … Then …thrown face first onto the ground."
He said an officer grabbed his hair, crushing his face into the platform.
"The officers then placed me in handcuffs behind my back which were wrongly applied, tortuously too far up my arms, which drew blood. In a concussed state I was bodily lifted like a wheat sack and placed on the chair."
His leather jacket was ripped and his watch and glasses broken.
When two police officers arrived, they examined his handcuffs.
"I was thrown head first into the platform, whilst handcuffed unable to protect myself. I was knocked unconscious and lay for several minutes on the platform floor."
Mr Girvan says he was knocked unconscious again while being escorted to a police van. He was rushed by ambulance to St Vincent's Hospital where he regained consciousness during a CAT scan.
He had sustained serious head injuries in a road accident in 1984.
In a statement, a Transit Officer said Mr Girvan "resisted aggressively and fell down to the ground. He suffered [an] open wound injury to his forehead".
A RailCorp report sent to him in December 2006 denies there was an intoxicated man on the platform needing assistance.
"Unfortunately footage of this event was not saved as part of the incident records, as it was unknown of the association between this event and your complaint," the report by investigator Ushma Kara states.
All four RailCorp officers said they were called to the platform because of reports of an unconscious male.
A RailCorp spokesman said footage of the incident was held for two weeks and then deleted in accordance with normal procedure.
"If Mr Girvan sought to attend to a distressed passenger, this behaviour is to be commended. However, RailCorp's record of this incident indicates that Mr Girvan behaved in a highly aggressive manner and was abusive to other passengers and transit officers."
He said an internal review concluded staff behaved appropriately.
A police spokesman said officers were called because Mr Girvan was intoxicated. Police did not explain why he was forced face first onto the platform while handcuffed.
A report by independent forensic psychiatrist Julian Parmegiani, on behalf of Mr Girvan's lawyers, said the incident had impacted on his psychological state.
Mr Girvan pleaded guilty in court to refusing to comply with a transit officer and offensive language. The charges were dismissed.
LNK
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CovOps
 Location : Ether-Sphere
Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator
Humor : Über Serious
| | Subject: Re: Brother of British "lord" sues over Sydney station arrest Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:27 pm | |
| Oohh... upper echelon gets a taste of its own medicine... then doesn't like it... fuck you, suffer!
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Anarcho-Capitalist, AnCaps Forum, Ancapolis, OZschwitz Contraband
“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner
"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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