The Tomlinson timeline

IssueMay 2009
News by Emily Johns , Milan Rai

Ian Tomlinson, 47, was a newspaper seller on his way home from work on 1 April.

6pm: Eyewitness Ross Hardy sees four riot police drag Mr Tomlinson to the pavement after he does not move out of the way of a police van, standing in the road.

7.15pm: Photographer Anna Branthwaite sees Mr Tomlinson pushed to the ground by a policeman near Threadneedle Street: “he did actually roll…. [he] bounced because of the force of the impact…. The officer hit him twice with a baton when he was lying on the floor.”

7.20pm: Mr Tomlinson was seen walking away from a line of police with his hands in his pockets as he stumbled along.
An officer in a balaclava was seen striking Mr Tomlinson on the back of the leg with a baton before shoving him to the ground.
After being helped to his feet by a demonstrator, Mr Tomlinson then had to run as the police chased protesters down the street with their batons drawn.

7.25pm: Mr Tomlinson collapses near St Michael’s Alley.
Mr Tomlinson was declared dead on arrival at the hospital.
While the first autopsy carried out on Mr Tomlinson indicated that he had died of a heart attack, a second autopsy commissioned by his family concluded that he had died of internal bleeding.

Topics: Police