Should Mark Field be charged with assault?

[CoolCat]

MP Mark Field accused of assaulting Greenpeace activist - BBC News

Thoughts?

he didnt know if she had a knife or other weapon, in the circumstances minimum force is justified

[Bean]

Didn't they also pull the fire alarm?

Could have sworn I heard it in the background on the news clip.

In which case, he was trying to prevent any more unnecessary emotional alarm & distress, caused by their actions.

LoL @ anybody trying to make an argument about height/size and level of threat is obviously unaware of the lengths some will go to...

Child Suicide Bombers
Child Murderers

[Eirikur]

Would all the fake outrage be the same if the protester was male?

[vetran]

And in judging that, the jury can and will absolutely take into account that she was an unarmed female. To pretend otherwise is just ludicrous.

There were 40 females dressed in flame red evening dresses in the hall uninvited so security was obviously on holiday, in light of that its entirely possible she could have been armed, if she had been searched they should have noticed she had no invite. They managed to bring in a knife sized sash each.
To claim you can be sure she was unarmed is very witlessly dim.

There have been other instances where people have managed to get past lax parliamentary security.

Being a woman does not preclude you from being a terrorist, in fact your archaic attitude is driving a growth in their involvement.

Women and Terrorism - Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics

Women are playing an increasingly significant role in terrorism. As men are progressively targeted by security personnel, using female operatives provides terrorist organizations with a “win-win” scenario; if security forces avoid invasively searching women for fear of outraging the local conservative population (based on social norms of women’s modesty and the honor code), women are the ideal stealth operatives.

[WordIsBond]

I bet you treat your wife like that when she refuses to get in bed.

What a novel idea. Should I ever experience that scenario, i'd have never thought of pushing her away from me and out of the bedroom as a way to get her into bed.

(Some people must have a really weird sex life.)

[BrilloPad]

he didnt know if she had a knife or other weapon, in the circumstances minimum force is justified

He could have sat down and left it to security? Why did he feel the need to get involved?

Oh yes, instinct. Because what we really need from the "elite" representatives of the UK is wild aggression with no thought.

I suppose it could have been worse. It could have been Churchill doing the assaulting.....

[vwdan]

Didn't they also pull the fire alarm?

Could have sworn I heard it in the background on the news clip.

In which case, he was trying to prevent any more unnecessary emotional alarm & distress, caused by their actions.

LoL @ anybody trying to make an argument about height/size and level of threat is obviously unaware of the lengths some will go to...

Was she any of those things, though? You can't just make up hypotheticals and use them in your defense. Yes, there's an element of what he genuinely believed, but that is tempered by the legal systems favourite "reasonable person" test.

The fact he was happy to simply turn her around and march her out would rather throw into doubt any reasonable belief that she was a genuine danger, in the sense of being armed etc

[vetran]

What a novel idea. Should I ever experience that scenario, i'd have never thought of pushing her away from me and out of the bedroom as a way to get her into bed.

(Some people must have a really weird sex life.)

Maybe Mrs FA likes that sort of thing?

[BrilloPad]

There have been other instances where people have managed to get past lax parliamentary security.

Fathers4Justice purpler powder!

Now where did they hide those condoms full of purple powder?

[Whorty]

Looks rather over the top, the aggressive way he handled her, but hardly assault. That word implies (or should in a less PC world) that he actually hurt her.

If you can be charged for throwing milkshake over someone, then surely you can be charged for unprovoked physical assault. He could have shepherded her out, but instead he grabbed her at the back of the neck. Not clever.