British prosecutors have to decide on possible charges against a police officer who attacked a man at the G20 protests in London, leading to his death.
The Metropolitan police officer attacked a man at the G20 demonstration, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said on Tuesday.
Ian Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor who was not taking part in the protest, collapsed and died in moments on April 1, after being attacked by the police.
Video footage showed a policeman apparently hitting him on the leg with a baton and pushing him over, causing him to hit the ground with some force.
With two post-mortem examinations linking Tomlinson's death to a heart attack or abdominal bleeding after the fall, the suspended officer is facing a manslaughter charge.
The IPCC said that it had wrapped up its four-month probe and had turned the affair over to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
More than 40 IPCC investigators gathered documents, footage and statements from 193 people, including police officers and medical experts, in what the watchdog highlighted as “one of the largest [probes] ever undertaken by the IPCC.”
Tomlinson's death sparked controversy after it was revealed that police had initially misinformed his family.
His wife and nine children were led to believe that he had died of a heart attack and that there had been no contact with the police.
In statements to the press, police claimed protesters impeded attempts by officers to save Tomlinson's life with resuscitation, according to The Guardian.
London's Met police came under fire for tactics used against the largely peaceful protesters following two parliamentary inquiries and a national review of policing by the official policing inspectorate.
The IPCC has received an additional 277 complaints about police brutality during the G20 demonstrations.
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