This is the viral news story of a police officer driving his police vehicle into a female calf on a suburban road because that police officer feared for the lives of pedestrians in the area and the police claim that the calf rammed cars and by implication therefore damage them.
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| Everyone screamed as police 4x4 hit the calf at 30 mph and 4 more times! Screenshot from resident's video |
The truth of the story is different to the one presented by the police which isn't unusual in my experience. This, by the way, is an opinion article based upon the news. I will declare right away that I don't like the police. Some like the police and some don't. I am in the latter group. My dislike of the police come from personal experience and encounters with them.
Initially in a news report it was said that the police car rammed the calf twice and on the second occasion the calf ended up under the vehicle. The latter is true but an eyewitness said that the police officer rammed the calf five times. And to all intents and purposes it looks very much like this police officer wanted to kill the calf in a panicked judgement.
The officer who used his police car to ram the escaped cow has been removed from frontline duties while witnesses said they were disgusted by what they saw. They screamed and cried and howled in anguish at what they saw.
And it appears to me that it was bystanders who successfully intervened and helped the police to get the calf into a horsebox and back to the farm from where it had escaped. The owners of the farm are bemused as to how the cow escaped but they think it might've swam over a river. It would seem, too, that without wishing to be too critical, they are also negligent.
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And I'm making an allegation here that the police were negligent and I will also make an allegation that it is possible that the police committed a crime. A crime under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 in the UK.
It's being investigated. Advocates for Animals a law firm, said that they had been instructed by the charity Humane Society International UK to look into prosecutions. It isn't me who believes that this might have been a crime which it looks like.
Under that act it is a crime to unnecessarily cause pain in an animal. The argument here is that it was unnecessary to ram the calf because there were many other more humane options. The police needed to seek help. They were involved with this calf for a few hours we are told. They had plenty of time to assess the situation and seek proper assistance from experts who could have dealt with the calf humanely.
The calf was knocked down near Bedfont Lakes Country Park and Saint Dunstan's Meadow in Feltham in west London. Hounslow Heath has been a home for a herd of cattle for a long time and is about 3 miles away.
What's amazing about the story is that the police officer decided to ram the calf knowing full well that it was likely that there'd be someone somewhere filming the incident and that is what happened. A resident's video footage shows the police car speeding into the back of the stray animal sending its sprawling down the road. And in another video seen by The Times newspaper a female police officer tells a witness that she understood their anger and said, "I feel awful."
That's an admission by a fellow police officer that what the behaviour of male police officer driving the vehicle was awful and wrong. Here, here!
The calf has a name: Beau Lucy, indicating that this was a pet of some sort or at least they have a close relationship with the owner.
James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, called for a "full and urgent explanation" having seen the video I believe on social media where it has been shared extensively.
Deputy Chief Constable Nev Kemp, of Surrey police said: "I fully appreciate the distress our handling of this incident has caused and will ensure that it is thoroughly and diligently investigated. In addition to an internal referral to our professional standards department, we have also referred the matter to the Independent Office for Police Conduct. At this time, the officer who was driving the police car has been removed from frontline duties pending the outcome of these investigations. I know there is much concern around the current welfare of the cow. She continues to be monitored by a vet and our rural officers are staying in contact with the owner for updates."
Kai Bennett, 22, a warehouse worker, was an eyewitness to the events. He said the animal was struck five times and not two as initially reported. He said he was returning home after visiting a friend when a group of people ran towards him. "They carried on past me and I asked them what they were running from and they just shouted 'cow'. I then saw a black baby calf running at me."
"I didn't want to get hurt so I decided to follow it and called the police. A big police 4x4 turned up and hit the cow at about 30 mph. I went ballistic. The car wasn't hurting anyone. They did it again and this time they pulled forward so the car was pinning it down by the neck. It was disgusting. It managed to get up and walked off very confused. The police officer got back in the car, did a U-turn and ran it over again. Everyone was screaming, thinking it was dead."
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