Wrongful arrests

I personally observed three similar incidents and. In addition, friends and relatives of other boys were contacted who had stories of wrongful arrest. One such story concerned a boy who had volunteered to go along with the police as a witness after two friends had been arrested for throwing stones. On arrival at... 

Nine separate allegations of wrongful arrest were made in letters to the NCCL.l These came from independent sources and there is no apparent collusion. It was difficult to follow up all these cases, but at least three resulted in successful appeal. (In at least another fifteen cases, not known to the NCCL, there were successful appeals for wrongful arrest or disproportionately high sentences.) All these letters made the same general complaint that the police had decided in advance to take strong measures or to arrest a certain quota and had thus made arbitrary arrests before any offence was committed or provoked offences to be committed. The following are extracts from two such letters ... 

One of the major reasons that this book was written is that nonspecialist chemical engineers know little abont DBAs. Althongh DBAs have been specified and installed for many years, qnite often they have failed becanse the wrong type of flame arrester was specified, or it was improperly installed, or inadeqnate inspection and maintenance were provided. 

An arrested man was told, in a police station, by a doctor, that he was drunk. The man asked, Doctor, could a drunk man stand up in the middle of this room, jump into the air, turn a complete somersault, and land down on his feet The doctor was injudicious enough to say, "Certainly not"—and was then and there proved wrong. (Worthing C L1957 British Medical Journal 1 643.) The introduction of the breathalyser, which has a statutory role only in road traffic situations, has largely eliminated such professional humiliations. 

A 2-month-old boy had a cardiac arrest when he was given a combination of pethidine, promethazine, and chlorpromazine in 10 times the recommended dose by the wrong route (intravenously rather than intramuscularly). Within seconds he became apneic and stiff. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation was instituted, including two intravenous doses of adrenaline 0.06 mg and naloxone 0.6 mg, with recovery 7 minutes after the incident and complete resolution 24 hours later. 

There can be no doubt that in ordinary circumstances, police should tell a person the reason for his arrest at the time they make the arrest. If a person s liberty is being restrained he is entitled to know the reason. If the police fail to inform him, the arrest will be unlawful with the consequence that if police are assaulted as the suspect resists arrest, he commits no offence. Therefore, if he is taken to custody, he will have action for wrongful imprisonment. 

---