So if I go out and stab a cop now, then rush him to the hospital is that ok?

If I were a cynic I could suggest the cops were trying to limit any future charge against them being limited to assault rather than manslaughter/murder.

But I would never suggest such a thing.

Fair enough.

As had no doubt all the jurors, a nice move by the prosecution to get them feeling as you did and prejudice the case.

Must have been some compelling evidence to trump that

[QUOTE=Dennis The Menace;7381600] As does my statement to you.I repeat what i have already stated in another way.We can not allow our policemen/women to go ferral...they must remain above reproach and be fully accountable.
It is a tough job...but if unable to conduct one self in a fully proffesional way ,which requires a high level a mental toughness along with many other atributes then they should seek out alternative employment.
Such policing methods where the police become the bashers(and i talk in the general sense here,)may well work in China and tin pot Latin American regemes in Australia we must insist on a far higher level of conduct from our police.

Totally outrageous....Agree fully with your sentiments..and even if not you fully have the right to state those views.
There is a segment of the population that seem to feel duty bound in their attempts to further erode the rights to free speech...deny them the right.

Yes - but the jury found that the degree of force was unreasonable and therefore constituted an assault. You understand that, right?

Actually seems not so cut and dry.....but in a sense you have a point in that the marginalised classes depending on state appointed legal representation has always encountered poor outcomes in comparison with the wealthier who afford in many instances to purchase more favorable results.
With regards to jury service i must admit to being a little shocked here in Perth with the way people turn out.In London at least people made an effort to dress the part and had a little more nouce about them.

Expect you could be right, guess at the end of the day the Police will milk the injuries sadly inflicted on Cons Butcher,by attempting to impose dracion laws that will go something like any hand laid on any part of a police officer will be deemed as an assault etc,etc.And yes poor Const Butcher will disappear from view.

Not at all.If a police officer is assaulting a citizen when it is not in self defence i would like to think that i most certainally get involved.(in a passive sense)
The involvement would be in the nature of recording all witnessed,actions and words.I would attempt where possible to have any one around to witness also.
All relivant info like police number etc would record.

[QUOTE=the troubadour;7383163] From watching the video, it looked to me like the McLeod's were the ferrels, with a bunch of cops who could not control them, it looked like it was all turning to shit and getting nasty, so the cop was placed in a situation where he had to taser the father before it got really nasty, and then one of the sons goes and king hits the cop from behind.

Though the dad suffered a heart attack, the cops were not to know he suffered from a heart condition, if he is fit and healthy enough to go and get pissed, and involved himself in brawls, he is fit and healthy enough to be dealt with by police.

Belive it or not the police did not ask to go and deal with this situation, they were sent there because people called 000, the police went there acting in the course of their duties, they tried to intervene as they are duty bound to do. When looking at the footage the McLeods were drunk, non compliant and aggressive, and are hardly the angels people are portraying them to be here (what was it Scot said to the guy videoing the incident - 'delete that or i'll ****ing kill you.' Of course this comment was explained by his defence lawyer merely as a comment made in the heat of the moment.) I am dubmfounded that people are sticking up for them.

I can imagine how this situation was painted by the lawyer in court, i can see a smart defence lawyer making the police look like a bunch of bullies, and bringing it on themselves. When you look at the footage thats not what i see, i see a female officer who looks petrified and doesn't seem to know what to do, and other police officers who are desperately trying to control a situation which has got completely out of hand, and not possible to control with the amount of cops at the scene without resorting to taser or some other use of force option (and there aren't many other options, pepper spray does not work most of the time, and you just get covered in the stuff yourself, can't speak for using a baton). You only have to look at the pictures of the McLeod's, those are big guys, i am a big guy, and i tell you there is no way in hell myself, or your average person, on their own, even with training could control and then cuff one of those guys when they are going off, without resorting to using taser, whacking them in the face and knocking them out (and we all know how the police would be criticized for that), or something similar.

Don't get me wrong, i know we all have different opinions on things, thats only natural, but the way people are describing the police conduct on the footage, i am wondering if we have been watching the same footage.

I don't really see anyone sticking up for the scumbags concerned, only pointing out that if the police use excessive force then they are in the wrong.
The jury had the evidence presented to them and it was put through the system.
Like it or not, that's how it works

Yes, but the video doesn't show the whole thing from beginning to end, does it? And the fact that the cop was headbutted isn't disputed by anyone.

If you walk in on me smacking someone over the head with a bit of 2x4, then you'd be a reasonable person to assume I'd be battering them. But if it turned out that a second before that they'd leapt out at me with a dagger and I just grabbed whatever was at hand to defend myself, then it'd be a different matter. Do you see?

People say that the camera doesn't lie, but in this case it's certainly not telling the whole story (except on the charge relating to the death threat, for which he was rightly - although perhaps harshly - convicted). The video was not the only evidence.

Bugger it! I love the naivete of some people that are new to this country. Yes, I believe in the utmost respect for cops and authority but the Aussie cops are their own breed. To suggest that they are unwitting and innocent bystanders in every situation is ridiculous. Im not referring to this particular case but if youy had an older realative with a health condition and you saw a police officer stun them with a tazer knowing it may kill them...........you would just stand there and say "oh well, Im gonna have respect for the law and just let them annihilate said unarmed relative for the sake of a drunken scuffle"????

Life is short as we are often told and it is certainly too short to let members of your own family be attacked and possibly killed because an armed public servant couldnt draw his weapon fast enough.

But in this case should bloke with a known heart condition be in a pub all day pissing up and brawling with his 2 fine sons, he is 56 a granddad FFS not a twenty year old.
A fine figure of a man Chips off the OLD block
Hope they all get what they rightly deserve eventually

Karma will come and smack them on the face at some point. I hope though that none of the general public decide to take to handing out the karma themselves. Sods law they'd get a jury that would hang them out to dry.