Student wins lawsuit over Senate House police assault

A Warwick student who was CS sprayed by police during a 2014 protest at Senate House has won a High Court lawsuit to have the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) re-examine his allegation of police assault.

Lawrence Green was part of a protest over free education that took place in Senate House, on the central Warwick campus, on 3 December 2014.

Despite starting off peacefully, the protest escalated when police were called with claims a member of Warwick security staff was assaulted by a protestor. Police and protestors then proceeded to violently clash, with police using CS spray against the gathered students.

A video of the incident made the rounds online and was reported on nationally, causing much outrage amongst Warwick students and the general public alike. A follow-up protest, calling for #CopsOffCampus, was attended in the hundreds, and was followed by an occupation of the Rootes building.

Green, now aged 26, was one of those CS sprayed during the initial altercation with police. He said this led to him suffering temporary blindness and excruciating pain.

His barrister, Fiona Murphy, told the court: “His left eye and the side of his face felt like he had suffered a chemical burn. His sight returned to normal after about seven days and the discomfort to his skin resolved after an outer layer of skin had peeled off.”

Green claimed West Midlands police sprayed him from less than a metre away, which contravenes national guidelines and would therefore be an act of misconduct.

Upon initially looking into the incident, the IPCC found no such guidelines to have been contravened, believing: “There is no evidence to support the various allegations of assault or possible criminal action or misconduct.” They also dismissed Green’s calls for a review into this decision.

Green therefore took his legal action further, culminating in the High Court calling for the IPCC to review its original decision this week and that they were wrong to dismiss the allegations.

Talking to The Guardian, Green commented: “I am very happy with this victory. I hope that this judgment provides help to others who find that the supposedly Independent Police Complaints Commission had tried to cover for and justify brutal violence by police officers.”

Warwick Students’ Union said in a statement: “[We] welcome the High Court’s decision, particularly given the fact that IPCC investigations rarely result in victory for people who submit complaints. This further highlights just how serious this incident of police violence was.

“As we await the conclusions of the reconsidered IPCC report, Warwick Students’ Union maintains our condemnation of the police violence that took place that day and will continue to offer support to those affected and to defend the right to protest on our campus, including pushing for the repressive protest injunction to be lifted.”