18 hours in cell for discarded apple core

[Enuff]

A plumber with a heart condition spent 18 hours in a police cell after being accused of dropping an apple core while on the way to collect a prescription for his wife.

Keith Hirst was arrested by five police officers, taken to a police station and had his DNA and fingerprints taken.

The 54-year-old, who has had heart surgery, twice needed to be seen by a doctor as he complained of dizziness and chest pains.

He later appeared before magistrates charged with littering and obstructing a police officer.

Link

[SMG]

I live in Swinton & agree with the support officer. The precinct is full of rubbish & crap & I have seen a few old people slipping or falling there.

It would seem that this guy, who cannot work due to ill health, was quite capable of walking some distance chewing an apple, also, giving the support officer, then the Police, a hard time. Twice seen by a Doctor & twice given a clean bill of health.

What did he expect? Sympathy? If you break the law, then you should accept the penalty. If you give the cops a hard time, you spend 18 hours in jail.

He should have apologized & paid his fine like a law abiding citizen, instead of acting like an idiot.

Originally Posted by SMG

I live in Swinton & agree with the support officer. The precinct is full of rubbish & crap & I have seen a few old people slipping or falling there.

It would seem that this guy, who cannot work due to ill health, was quite capable of walking some distance chewing an apple, also, giving the support officer, then the Police, a hard time. Twice seen by a Doctor & twice given a clean bill of health.

What did he expect? Sympathy? If you break the law, then you should accept the penalty. If you give the cops a hard time, you spend 18 hours in jail.

He should have apologized & paid his fine like a law abiding citizen, instead of acting like an idiot.

Actually, he was accused of dropping the apple core...to which he denied (they had no proof, it was in a place there was a crowd and the PCSO just thought he *may have dropped it)

If i was him i wouldnt of given any info either...

[G UK]

This is the kind of incident to which I feel people should reserve judgment until they know all the facts.

If he did drop the litter and was making a backside of himself with the police then he got what was coming

If he was innocent then the PCSO needs dealing with along with the person whos bright idea it was to lock the man up for 18 hours with no evidence.

[frogstamper]

Apparently the police reported that he didnt just drop the apple core, he threw it, nearly hitting another person. Generally theres a lot more to these sort of stories than the headline.

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by frogstamper

Apparently the police reported that he didnt just drop the apple core, he threw it, nearly hitting another person. Generally theres a lot more to these sort of stories than the headline.

Indeed

[Enuff]

There's more people fall because of the councils failure to repair uneven pavements. Maybe they should spend time sorting that out first, before trying to steal more money from honest folk for dropping apple cores.

[Derek S]

Originally Posted by G UK

This is the kind of incident to which I feel people should reserve judgment until they know all the facts.

Why let the facts get in the way of a good witchhunt.
Remember the epileptic woman who was beaten up by the big nasty Policeman on CCTV?
Only she wasn't epileptic, she was drunk, possibly on drugs, refusing to leave a nightclub and clutching onto the officers family jewels.

As has been mentioned the arrested person will have given one version of events to the papers, there will be another version of events from the Police/PCSO and the truth will lie somewhere between the two.

[trevortt]

A man who drops an apple core gets a far worse punishment than someone seen mugging a person on cctv. Anyone watch Nigh****ch on Friday Night? You will know exactly what i am on about.

If you missed it..a group of youths wee caught on cctv with their faces fully visible mugging a woman and then beating the crap out of her whilst on the floor. The thugs went to court and nothing got done as apparently there was no evidence!!! So why have CCTV i ask.

But this old man, drops an apple core and gets held up for 18 hrs...what a disgrace..yet more innocence been treat like crap whilst the real criminals get let off.

[etccarmageddon]

I think they should have locked him up and thrown away the..................... apple!

[Stephen]

I am all for fining people that drop litter, but honestly a bit of fruit is hardly damaging the planet. Some wee birdie or other animal would clearly pick it up and eat it.

[trevortt]

Originally Posted by DarthYoda

I am all for fining people that drop litter, but honestly a bit of fruit is hardly damaging the planet. Some wee birdie or other animal would clearly pick it up and eat it.

Just shows you why many people are losing faith in the police.

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by trevortt

Just shows you why many people are losing faith in the police.

"The officer accused him of dropping the core – which Mr Hirst denied – and demanded his name and address.
Mr Hirst, who no longer works because of his ill health, said: "He was an overzealous young lad baying to give me a ticket.
"I told him I was on my way to the shops, but would be walking back that way if he wanted to speak to me later. He followed through the precinct to the chemist."

Or he could have given the PCSO his name and address when asked, rather than walking off.

[Derek S]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Or he could have given the PCSO his name and address when asked, rather than walking off.

That's dangerously close to common sense.

[foreverwar]

Originally Posted by Derek S

That's dangerously close to common sense.

Sorry - I'll try again.

Don't those PCSOs have anything better to do that to stop ordinary allegedly unwell people from littering, its not as if it is a crime, why arent they chasing drugdealing raping murderists, who would probably just get a slap on the wrist and sent on holiday if they were caught, which they never are , and anyway its all Bransons fault because if the Sky channels were on VM this man would probably been at home watching Sky rather than walking to the chemists, especially if it had been on HD, dont get me started on HD , oh go on then, if he had been watching Sky on HD he would have never got out of his seat, its so good, and the technology is much better but no, Branson had to make this man get arrested, and I bet he'll deny it, the entire VM board should resign and it won't be reported in the LibLabTory press, who suppress anything that doesn't support the liberal LibLabTory way of thinking, like the research that shows we wouldn't need Congestion Charge if VM had Sky channels back, as everyone would be at home watching the great programmes instead of being bored witless and driving in and out of London just for something to do, but will Boris do anything about it, obviously not as he is part of the PCSO/LibLab/Tory/VM conspiracy to suppress us all and he is Richard Bransons lovechild with Rupert Murdoch, so I don't know whether to hat hime or like him at least he is not RedKen, which are vastly overpriced hairproducts, but do VM care, oh no grrrrrrrr


(not sure if there are enough random commas and s in there)