Boxing champion considers compensation claim against police
09 Mar 2010
A professional boxer is considering making a compensation claim
against the police after he was arrested in January.
Danny Williams, who is the current British heavyweight title holder
and famously knocked out Mike Tyson in 2004, had recently bought a
car and was driving it in London when the incident occurred,
SportingLife.com reports.
He was stopped by City of London Police on suspicion of stealing
the vehicle and was taken into custody for further
questioning.
However, after several hours in a cell, he was released on bail and
the charges were dropped.
Mr Williams claims that the stress of the arrest caused him to have
to pull out of a title defence match in the same month and said he
is now consulting with his lawyers with regard to taking legal
action for the way he was treated.
"It's unbelievable. I've never been in trouble with the police
before and I was wrongfully arrested … I'm quite upset with what's
happened so I've taken it up with my lawyers," the sportsman
commented.
A statement from the City of London Police confirmed that a man had
been arrested on January 22nd on suspicion of vehicle theft but had
been released and that no further action was to be taken.
Earlier this month, the London Evening Standard reported that a
cancer victim is seeking compensation from the police after he was
arrested on suspicion of carrying a gun that was actually a child's
toy.
Albert Wallace claims that he was punched and kicked to the ground
by officers who were armed with machine guns.
Edward Kirton-Darling, a solicitor in the civil liberties team
at Hodge Jones & Allen LLP comments:
“Where police have a reasonable suspicion that someone has
committed an offence, they have a power to arrest them. They have
to be able to prove that their suspicion was objectively reasonable
– in other words that they have some proof that supports their
suspicion - and they have to establish that the arrest is necessary
to, for example, allow them to investigate the crime further.
“The police must also comply with the strict requirements on
information they must provide and steps they must take to make sure
the detained person is properly looked after. If there are any
breaches, the detained person may be able to claim for false
imprisonment. They may also be able to claim damages for loss of
earnings if that loss can be causally linked to the false
imprisonment.
“In relation to the alleged assault described in the Evening
Standard, police officers are allowed to use reasonable force to
arrest an individual where they have reasonable suspicion they have
committed an offence. Reasonable force will depend on the case, and
it will depend on the threat the police perceive. In this case,
relevant factors are likely to be the realistic nature of the
child’s toy and the way in which the detained individual
behaved.”
