Viral video forces UK prosecutors to drop charges against white man arrested after being beaten
L
ike the police, prosecutors aren't interested in holding the multiple black aggressors accountable.
A 20-year-old Briton was savagely attacked last month by multiple black individuals on the streets of Birmingham, England, within view of nearby police officers. A female officer ran into action but rather than help the apparent victim, she manhandled and arrested him while his attackers fled the scene.
Birmingham Police subsequently tried to paint the victim, Cody Harper, as the villain of the story and suppress evidence to the contrary.
'[WMP] let two thugs from ethnic minority backgrounds off.'
While law enforcement nearly succeeded in ruining the young man's life, the case against Harper has crumbled in the wake of significant backlash and criticism over two-tier policing in the United Kingdom.
The incident
Footage of the June 21 incident shows six black individuals hassling Harper on Birmingham's Broad Street. One man from the mob dressed in a black jacket launches a sneak attack from the right, knocking Harper to the ground, before another thug sucker-punches him in the back of the head, video shows
Harper attempts to scramble to his feet, only to have a female police officer pin him against a nearby wall, video shows. Harper is unaware his attacker is an officer and so blindly throws a punch in self-defense, but only brushes off her cap.
Despite Harper's claims that the mob was "tryin' to smack me up," the female officer — who failed to identify herself as police — lunges for Harper's neck, proceeds to handcuff him, and appears to call him a "dick."
"You're under arrest for assault on police," says the female officer. She and another female officer then march Harper over to a police car, and a male cop throws him in it.
The response
Footage of the incident went viral online, prompting an official response by police.
"We are aware of footage showing the arrest of a man after a disorder on Broad Street at 1.30am on 21 June. Officers found a group of men fighting," Birmingham Police said July 2. "As the incident was dealt with, an officer was punched. One man was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer."
The police department noted further that following a review of the incident, it had "no concerns over the officer's actions" and was "satisfied that they were reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances."
The department urged the public not to share footage of the attack.
The public, however, declined to heed Birmingham Police's request, and the mistreatment of Harper became a major scandal, prompting commentary and criticism, including from lawmakers.
Zia Yusuf, a spokesman for Nigel Farage's Reform U.K. party, said at the time, "If you are a white person in Britain and you get assaulted by ethnic minority men: The police watch on and wait until you are on the floor before moving in to arrest YOU. The police make no attempt to arrest your assailants, letting them run off without consequence."
James McMurdock, a Reform U.K. member of Parliament, wrote, "I can’t let this go unchallenged. That young man was, in my opinion and based on the video below, the clear victim of an assault. The video shows, for reasons that are entirely beyond my comprehension, the officer steaming directly into the victim."
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Robert Jenrick, another member of Parliament for Reform U.K., said that "it’s baffling that he was arrested while the two black men who attacked him weren’t."
Amid the backlash, police slightly changed their tune, acknowledging July 3 that "an assault has taken place" and announcing they were taking steps to "identify those involved."
Despite the update, Harper was still saddled with the assault charge and due in court on July 23.
No charges — for anyone
The Crown Prosecution Service has since dropped the case against Harper, having concluded that they didn't have enough evidence to prosecute the young man.
"Following a careful review of all the evidence, including video footage of the incident, we concluded there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the suspect for assaulting a police officer," said a Crown Prosecution Service spokesman. "We have therefore stopped proceedings and written to both the suspect and the complainant confirming this."
'A failure of justice here would have haunted him.'
"We recognize assaults committed against emergency workers are abhorrent crimes, both against the victim and against society as a whole," added the spokesman.
Yet, West Midlands Police, which encompasses Birmingham Police, isn't apologizing for its treatment of Harper.
On the contrary, the force told the Telegraph that while it respected the decision to discontinue the case against Harper, his arrest was "lawful and came after a police officer conducting her duties was hit."
WMP revealed that the two cowards who attacked Harper have been identified — but that neither man has been charged with assault. They were instead given out-of-court disposals, roughly the equivalent of a citation in the U.S.
While happy to see Harper's charges dropped, Christopher Philp, a Conservative Party member who serves as shadow home secretary, condemned WMP's decision to treat the attackers with kid gloves, calling it a "blatant example of two-tier policing."
"[WMP] let two thugs from ethnic minority backgrounds off with a slap on the wrist while attempting to prosecute a third man — who had himself been attacked — who was white," said Philp. "Only the intervention of the CPS thankfully stopped this from proceeding."
"Everyone should be treated the same regardless of skin color. But the extremist and misnamed ‘anti-racist’ ideology that some police leaders have signed up to brazenly calls for people to be treated differently based on skin color," added Philp.
The anti-racism guidance issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council still explicitly calls for treating people differently on the basis of race.
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