A video clip shows police officers in London accusing a journalist of “killing people” for filming them in a park.
The incident began when journalist Michael Segalov witnessed an encounter between a woman and police during which the officers appeared to be harassing her.
He began recording the confrontation on his phone but was soon surrounded by several officers, one of whom told him, “You’re killing people. Go home,” while clearly standing closer than social distancing rules mandate.
According to a letter of complaint filed by solicitors at ITN, the news channel Segalov works for, the journalist actually felt the spittle of one of the officers land on his face during the exchange.
The other week journalist @MikeSegalov got hassled and shouted at by the police for filming an incident in a park. Here's the footage. Not a good look for the police – breaking social distancing rules by surrounding him and wrongly shouting at a journalist to go home. pic.twitter.com/BKXSXbE6Gm
— Great Editor (@simonchilds13) April 16, 2020
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One of the officers, Sergeant Brown, repeatedly provides his name and number to stress that he is proud of what he is doing.
It subsequently emerged that the officers were hassling the woman because they thought she was “clearly not exercising” and told her to leave the park.
The irony of an officer invading someone’s personal space to enforce social distancing rules which require a 2 meter gap and then accusing the other person of “killing people” cannot be overemphasized.
Segalov is now demanding an investigation of the officers involved and a public apology.
“This is absolutely shameful policing. The officers should be investigated and @MikeSegalov must get the apology he deserves,” said Big Brother Watch in response to the incident.
As we previously highlighted, there have been innumerable examples of police officers in the UK abusing their powers during the lockdown, from a female officer who told a family their kids couldn’t play on their own front garden, to a man who received a police visit for cutting his disabled neighbor’s grass.
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