Dying Ian Tomlinson declared ‘they got me’, inquest told

A witness who saw Ian Tomlinson in Cornhill, in the City of London, described him collapsing “like a tree falling” and hitting a wall, before landing on the floor.

Kamran Saleem, a City worker, told the inquest: “There was a slight stumble, and then he kind of gathered himself, so his legs were straight, and then his knees kind of bent, gave way, and he fell into the wall to his left-hand side. And that is when he hit the wall and then fell off and landed on the floor.”

He added: “It was like he wasn’t in control of his body, it was like a tree falling. His arms were by his side. There was no reaction when he went into the wall… It was a forceful impact.”

Mr Saleem said as Mr Tomlinson was lying on the pavement, he was still breathing and his eyes were open.

Mr Tomlinson said: ‘They got me, the f****** got me. Kamran Saleem, witness

As another member of the public went to help him, Mr Tomlinson said: “They got me, the f****** got me,” Mr Saleem told the inquest.

“And then I think somebody asked him if he wanted an ambulance. He said ‘no, they got me’, or something again.”

He added: “It was probably quieter than normal, but it was kind of an anger – ‘they got me’ – but probably more surprised than anything else.”

Mr Saleem told the inquest that objects, including bottles, were being thrown both before and after police officers arrived.

In a statement read to the inquest, he said at one stage he was concerned the windows of a nearby coffee shop would be “put through”.

Struck

The inquest has heard that Mr Tomlinson, who was unconnected to the demonstrations, was struck with a baton and pushed to the floor by PC Simon Harwood whilst making his way through the City of London on the evening of April 1, 2009.

PC Harwood, a Metropolitan Police Territorial Support Group officer, told the inquest this week that he believed Mr Tomlinson was “encroaching” police lines and being “defiant”.

Jurors have seen footage of Mr Tomlinson getting up after being pushed over, and walking along Cornhill. Subsequent footage shows him on the floor being given first aid by members of the public, and then police officers.

Read more in the Channel 4 News Special Report on the Ian Tomlinson inquest

Later, the inquest heard from Lucy Apps, a third-year medical student who had tended to Mr Tomlinson as he lay on the floor.

She said Mr Tomlinson hadn’t hit the wall particularly hard.

“He went into this pillar and then he sort of kind of exaggerated the movement backwards, as though he had sort of bounced off, and then he sort of turned and fell on to his back,” she said.

Reassurance

Miss Apps described talking to Mr Tomlinson, reassuring him and holding his hand. She said: “I can’t remember the exact words that he used, but he said that he was all right, and I took his hand and I said ‘Are you all right, mate, are you all right?’, kind of thing. And I asked him again whether he was okay and, again, he said he was okay.”

At the same time, another member of the public had dialled 999 and was speaking to an ambulance operator, relaying instructions to Miss Apps.

After a couple of minutes, police officers arrived and Miss Apps said they forced her and the other members of the public to move away.

She told the inquest: “They just said ‘Move along, please, we are dealing with this.’ And there was a guy – the guy who was on the phone to the ambulance, he was there as well and, he was asking them to speak to the operator on the phone and I think I joined him, I made that request as well, and we were just shouted at, and I may have been pushed. I can’t recall.

“And the guy with the phone held the phone out to the police officer at one point with – as in he held the phone out so the earpiece was at the officer’s ear and the mouthpiece was at the police officer’s mouth and said ‘Please, please, speak to the operator.’ The officer refused and just shouted ‘We are dealing with this, move along’.”

The inquest was played the 999 call, in which the operator can repeatedly be heard asking whether Mr Tomlinson is conscious and whether he is breathing.

At one stage, the operator asks for the phone to be handed to the police who have arrived. In the background, the caller can be heard to say, “999 call, 999 call, they want to speak to you.” Seconds later, he says: “No, no, no, I’m being told no – I’ve got to move on.”

Under cross-examination, Samantha Leek, counsel for the Metropolitan Police, asked Miss Apps: “Would you agree that, in a situation like that, if somebody were trained in dealing with life support, emergency life support, the best situation for them would be to assess the patient themselves, and then carry out the treatment according to what they had seen?”

Miss Apps relied: “I think it depends. I think if you have got to the point where someone is breathing very little and the ambulance operator has decided to commence CPR, I think any delay in going back to the start of that process probably isn’t the best thing.”

Helicopter footage shows police medics treating Mr Tomlinson. He was pronounced dead within an hour of collapsing.

Miss Apps’ brother, Peter, who also gave evidence today, said he’d only seen one bottle thrown while police were attempting to treat Mr Tomlinson, then other people in the crowd shouted “stop throwing things”.

The inquest into Ian Tomlinson’s death, which is taking place in the City of London, is expected to last around six weeks.