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Police attacked in rubbish row
10:35am Friday 18th July 2008
Comments (120) Have your say »
A violent mob attacked two police officers after they asked a teenage girl to pick up a piece of litter.
The incident occurred near to the Woolworths and Burger King in North End, central Croydon, at about 3pm on Wednesday.
It started when the unarmed male officers on patrol saw a teenage girl drop a fast food wrapper from a nearby takeaway and asked her to pick it up. She did so but immediately dropped it on the ground again.
They then separated the girl from a 15-year-old girl with her who was being noisy and unco-operative.
When the officers asked her again to pick it up her friend became aggressive towards them.
Police said she then bit one of the officers on his shoulder or back.
A group of people then gathered around the officers and intimidated and attacked them. It is believed the crowd grew to about 30 people, made up of male and female teenagers and adults, with more people watching.
Police said all suspects were black.
The two officers, aged 34 and 29, suffered from bruising and knee injuries and at one point the 34-year-old was bitten and needed hospital treatment for his injury.
They are both now on sick leave.
The 15-year-old girl was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault. She has been bailed following further inquiries.
Yesterday morning police also arrested two men, aged 34 and 38 both from South Norwood, on suspicion of assault and violent disorder.
The incident is being investigated by Croydon CID and officers are examining CCTV footage from the area.
Inspector Simon Ellingham said: "We have heard from several retailers in the area who were horrified at the level of violence used by the crowd against the officers.
"Whilst we would never use the word 'mob' which is an inflammatory word, we can confirm that eye witnesses have described their initial fear that Officers were going to be seriously injured or killed."
Anyone who saw what happened or has any information should phone 020 8649 0119 and ask for Sergeant George Shannon or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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trasie, mitcham says...
10:50am Fri 18 Jul 08
Iain, Purley says...
10:56am Fri 18 Jul 08
annoyed, croydon says...
11:18am Fri 18 Jul 08
Adrian, London says...
11:20am Fri 18 Jul 08
Paul, Croydon says...
11:20am Fri 18 Jul 08
They should be locked up for life,
How would they like it if the Police beat them up, there would be a public outrage, but becaise it's the Police no one cares.
It disgusts me.
Name and Shame the Scum Bags! 1
sarah, croydon says...
11:29am Fri 18 Jul 08
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
11:33am Fri 18 Jul 08
Iain wrote:If you saw it, can you please contact police and give them a description of at least some of them? They MUST be caught.
I saw it. It was a mob of black youngsters - both male and females - who went completely crazy. It wasn\'t obvious what the row was about.
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
11:37am Fri 18 Jul 08
sarah wrote:There is a vast difference between three girls doing graffiti and pretending they have a knife outside a woman's home, when she is quite capable of going indoors to get away from them and two police officers who cannot escape being attacked by a gang of around 30. I only wish I had been there, to at least get help and identify some of them. Instead, I was having to sit at home all day waiting for a non-existent gas man.
I coud be wrong, but somehow I thing this incident will be and has been taken more seriously than the lady who tackled the teenage girls graffitting her garage, who then threatened to stab her. All she got was a phone call 3 hours later, no CID and no checking CCTV images. Double standards and you wonder why so many of us have so little faith.
Paul, Croydon says...
11:41am Fri 18 Jul 08
MORE POLICE ON THE STREETS = MORE MONEY NEEDED
This just proves that no one has repect for the police anymore.
It frustrates me how many people will put the police down, but no one went to help them when they were getting beaten up...DOUBLE STANDARDS(well i haven't heard that any members of the public helped them out, but everyone complains when they don't turn up!! NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL DOUBLE STANDARDS!
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
11:53am Fri 18 Jul 08
DJW, croydon says...
11:58am Fri 18 Jul 08
mark, selhurst says...
12:00pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Talus, Rugby says...
12:01pm Fri 18 Jul 08
At least now the police will begin to feel how the rest of us feel.[
Cat, South Croydon says...
12:04pm Fri 18 Jul 08
sian, london says...
12:08pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Mr Hayes, London says...
12:15pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Paul, Croydon says...
12:20pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Well put it this way if it was your child getting beaten up by 30 youths would you want the police to get involved and be a bit aggressive or should they just stand by and watch incase they offend anyone...so be a bit more realistic, and realise that Croydon is now a battle ground, and if you want the Police to help, then don't slag them off when they are heavy handed! Who is the first person calls when the have their house robbed,?? Well it's the Police, so if they don't have the public's support then why should they bother???
Colin, London says...
12:24pm Fri 18 Jul 08
What a strange coincidence that three people - all of whom claim to have witnessed the confrontation - should happen to chance upon this site within 10 minutes of each other.
This is obviously one very sick individual using multiple IDs to smear the police and deflect our anger away from the savages who committed the asault.
Paul, Croydon says...
12:25pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Paul, Croydon says...
12:28pm Fri 18 Jul 08
They can't ever win!!
People should support the Police maybe this may put a message out to all the scum that we won't tolerate this sort of behaviour from anyone.!
Roberta, Croydon says...
12:56pm Fri 18 Jul 08
She was abusive and swore repeadetly at the two police officers who were just trying to keep the streets of croydon clean.
Why was she in central croydon at 3pm along with other teenagers and the behaviour of the adults was appaling. And we wonder why the black teenagers are ever becomming an ever increasing problem on Croydon streets if this is the way there elders behave.
I am absolutley disgusted and am seriously thinking about getting out of Croydon - a place where I was born.
Watch with Wonder, North End, Croydon says...
1:00pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Unfortunately more and more crazy incidents are being reported and it seems that barbaric, prehistoric behiviour is increasingly the norm.
I think it's about time I quite this world and fly 'Vigin Galactic'... to seek out new civilizations and to boldly go where no man has gone before...
Anna, Sutton says...
1:01pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Kieran, Chester says...
1:02pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Find them, identify them, charge them, prosecute them.
Then shoot them.
Watch with Wonder, Spelling Class, Croydon says...
1:06pm Fri 18 Jul 08
You don't have to think this... 'Watch with Wonder ' has already spotted how bad the spelling is!
Sincere apologies!
gerry, rural Mid-Devon says...
1:20pm Fri 18 Jul 08
sarah, croydon says...
1:32pm Fri 18 Jul 08
mark, selhurst says...
1:37pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Paul, Croydon says...
1:37pm Fri 18 Jul 08
The officers were not alone and they have extensive training in dealing with violent and volatile situations, they should have been able to calm the situation down, not aggrevate it!Yes the police are trained , but no one is trained to take on 30 people!
Oh well I suppose someone having a bit of graffiti is soooo much more serious than a human being getting beaten up!!!
Was this lady stabbed then?? NO!!! she wasn't!!!
Geezer, Croydon says...
1:39pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Whatever happened to freedom of speech?
Oh of course, the "law breaking minorities" have rights whilst law abiding citizens don't.
Nic Niewart, Beckenham says...
1:41pm Fri 18 Jul 08
When was the last time you had a copper walk down your street?
The only ones are zooming past at 60mph going to something that's already happened- instead of preventing it in the first place. And then they're selective what they attend- a road traffic accident is good- they can chat to their ambulance chums for a hour or so.
Crime is falling says Gordon Brown and all the Labour cronies-see we all FEEL it falling- every day- we all see it every day yeah right- come to Croydon and see it for yourself.
Paul, Croydon says...
1:44pm Fri 18 Jul 08
It's not the police's fault for not answering 999 calls, maybe if the goverment spent a bit more money on get more police officers then this could help sort the crime out.
I'm so fed up with people slagging off the Police... next everyone will be slagging off the Soliders in Iraq, or lets just start slagging the Ambulance Service or Fire Brigade off.
Just remember that the Police are fighting a losing battle, and it doesn't help everyone giving there "Ten Pence worth" of complaints, why not come up with some solutions.
Hey why not slag that Special constable off who was killed by her husband, I mean it must have been her fault!!!(It wasn't by the way)
If you think you can do a better job, then go and join the Police!!!
jen w, Croydon says...
1:51pm Fri 18 Jul 08
yes we do need to address the issue tha t our children are out of control but let us not add to it becasue if they cant trust us as adult who are they going to turn to
may God have mercy on all those concern
mother
Brendan, says...
1:54pm Fri 18 Jul 08
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
1:58pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Nic - you live in Beckenham, so it is obviously different there. In Croydon we always have patrols. On Thursday night our SN team were out patrolling Selsdon, Sanderstead and Heathfield. Half an hour later I was in the Town Centre and a police car came by at 8 p.m. and then 8.10 p.m. We have police around all the time. Dropping litter is anti-social behaviour and all anti-social behaviour needs to be stopped. It leads to other things. We want zero tolerance here. So let the police do their jobs and don't continually criticise them.
Paul, Croydon says...
2:02pm Fri 18 Jul 08
No police would mean the Army would be involved and they would be more brutal, and wouldn't answer to anyone!!!
carly, london says...
2:10pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Now, I think that being attacked by a 30 strong group is more important that a couple of kids acting like they have a knife.
Had the police been in the area when the graffiti incident happened, they would of delat with it then, but they weren't.
So really I think that there is no question as to what is more important
sickened, croydon says...
2:12pm Fri 18 Jul 08
ANNE GILES, SELSDON says...
2:18pm Fri 18 Jul 08
tony, london says...
2:21pm Fri 18 Jul 08
mark wrote:So that means they have the right to attack the police? If someone is commitimg a crime then don't the police have a right to get heavy handed? In other words. If you was a officer and you told a young girl to pick up litter and she refuse, what would you do?
Despite what Colin says, the fact remains that I was there and did witness the whole incident. Whether you want to believe it or not, the officer attacked that young girl and anyone who thinks they were correct in there actions should go and take a long hard look at themselfs. She is a young girl and he is a fully grown man, would Colin and the rest of you be happy if a adult male assualted their daughter, I for one would not.
mary, croydon says...
2:24pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Carly, london says...
2:25pm Fri 18 Jul 08
I wouldn't worry about it Anne they just don't get you. Once people realise that you are just trying to support the police they'll realise you aint so bad!!
I just think it's funny everyone slates teenagers & what not when they've arrested people who are in there 30's!!
I would also like to say, I don't know who started the fight after reading these comments, & if my daughter had been started on, I don't think a big group of people beating 2 tonnes of crap out of the officer would help my compliaint against him out would it?
So really, as much as this group wanted to attack the officers, they are now the 1's in trouble & totally flipped the situation. That is if the police attacked her first though.
Tom, Oxford says...
2:33pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Mr Hayes wrote:Before more people like you start bleating about race and the 'PC brigade', let's remind ourselves of the UEFA cup final in Manchester, where a mob of white British thugs did exactly the same. Or the packs of white teenagers who beat Garry Newlove, Sophie Lancaster, and many more besides them to death. Our country has a problem of violent, evil children, black and white, spawned by violent, feckless adults. It is not a race issue.
Not surprising is it, when you can\'t approach a group of black youngsters without the race card getting thrown in your face by the PC brigade what do you think is going to happen, they become the untouchables and take full advantage of it.
Paul, London says...
2:42pm Fri 18 Jul 08
mary wrote:Hey Sto the press, Mary knows exactly what went on...It's the polices fault, oh **** I'm so sorry for defending the police, I feel so bad(This is meant to be Sarcasm by the way)
First of all im really sick of people lying and making up stories, I was there and I saw the policeman hit the young lady many times with a baton,because she dropped rubbish the policemen attacked her. It upsets me how so many people are telling lies and it is a shame that the police officer will get away with it. Ihate to say it but I feel because the young lady is black the public are defending the policemen.
Mary apparently knows the crimnal history if this girl, hey it's not her fault, it's society's fault for her being so self centred and dropping litter, sorry I won't use a bin anymore , i'll just chuck my house hold rubbish on the floor from now on.
Thanks for clearing this all up for us!!!
I hope the Police do get away with defending themselves!!!
Ricky, Sheen says...
2:43pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Well, police are to enforce the law, not just the ones that you think they should. That's the trouble, people think they6 can puick and choose which laws they obey. Motorists think they can speed, dog people think their animals can foul anywhere etc etc.
terry, says...
2:43pm Fri 18 Jul 08
sean, london says...
2:43pm Fri 18 Jul 08
am/areas young black males(I am not saying all black males-the ones I hung around were polite and a great laugh)would go upstairs on the bus and literally take over the back seats and if anyone dared come to their territory would be beaten/stabbed/shot!
I also noticed a lot of my friends were being targeted because they were white and being mugged
or I should say raped of their confidence some of them were very
frightened to even walk to the shop.
Now, if white males were attacking black males..because of their colour literally hundreds of goverment funded organisations would be protesting:STOP RACISM etc.Why is this thing left to the BNP and similar bad minded groups(I cant vote for a party that wouldnt recognise my polite and good natured
black friends)is this
done deliberatly?
Solutions:more black and asian (based Only on merit!!!!)police and as much powers as the police would like including tasers bullets no ifs buts or mabies=control over the streets!
S
carly, london says...
2:44pm Fri 18 Jul 08
No matter who you are, if you play a discrimination card, you get away with it.
You can play the race card, or even insanity card. Peados even claim that the little kids they molest brought it on themselves & get away with it.
If I beat someone up of different ethnicity to me I should say I'm getting done cos I'm white! I might get away with it.
At the end of the day, no matter what age, colour, gender, there are too many people behaving like vicous thugs because they can get away with it & know how!
Look at that poor Mikey, yes he had run ins with the police but didn't deserve to be stabbed. No his killer got 4yrs minimum.Disgraceful
I now know that I can spend 4 years approx in a prison which from I've heard are crap anyway just for killing someone. It doesn't send out a good message does it.
These thugs who attacked the officers will prob get a slap on the wrist. What sort of lesson is that?
Lisa, Croydon says...
2:52pm Fri 18 Jul 08
The police defended themselves after having given a young girl a beating over rubbish so do I feel sorry for them? Hell no!
Tony, London says...
2:53pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Lisa, Croydon says...
2:58pm Fri 18 Jul 08
P, says...
2:58pm Fri 18 Jul 08
terry, croydon says...
2:59pm Fri 18 Jul 08
it wasonly a while ago that a young girl stabbed another to death in croydon just cause shes a young girl means nothing
Elliot, Croydon says...
3:00pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Croydon is Number One for Scum!
Paul, Croydon says...
3:02pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Yes I agree that some Police Officers can be a bit too heavy handed.
But no Croydon Police Officer would use his baton in central Croydon, due to the amount of CCTV camera's there.
So they must have felt threaten to use it.
Plus chinese whispers as you know will always change the original message.
So if your friend saw something for one everyone always makes the story sound more exciting than what it was, and secondly no one no matter what they have done deserves to have 30 people hitting them.
Otherwise if this is the case every time the Police turn up to a pub fight should they get 3 times as many police down so they can give them a kick in then????
So yes I agree on some points, but no will ever know what really happened apart from the Police Officers who were involved and the Girl.
So no one will ever win the argument of "The police deserved it vs the Police didn't deserve it"
Can I leave you with my last comment which is "How comes we are complaining it's about the Police, shouldn't we be shocked that 30 people decided to beat the crap out of 2 people?? If it was just two normal people walking down the street and got beaten up by 30 people, would we even be discussing this??"
Stay safe everyone, and have a great weekend.
Lisa, Croydon says...
3:11pm Fri 18 Jul 08
Doesnt warrant a beating though does it!
mark, says...
3:15pm Fri 18 Jul 08
tony wrote:Nobody has the right to assault anyone this includes the police. There's a correct way of dealing with littering, I'm sure that grabbing a young girl by the throat, hitting her repeatedly with a metal baton and spraying her with cs gas is not one of them. Furthermore, what you haven't been told is that another innocent girl who was there, was also hit in the head with the baton causing her head to be split open. So do you feel that this is justified because it was purportrated by the police. As I said before, I WAS THERE. WAS YOU.
mark wrote: Despite what Colin says, the fact remains that I was there and did witness the whole incident. Whether you want to believe it or not, the officer attacked that young girl and anyone who thinks they were correct in there actions should go and take a long hard look at themselfs. She is a young girl and he is a fully grown man, would Colin and the rest of you be happy if a adult male assualted their daughter, I for one would not.So that means they have the right to attack the police? If someone is commitimg a crime then don't the police have a right to get heavy handed? In other words. If you was a officer and you told a young girl to pick up litter and she refuse, what would you do?
Bob Peel, Croydon says...
10:41am Fri 18 Jul 08
Welcome to cráp Croydon, no respect but lots and lots of scummy kids.
Any comment Croyboy?