Not again: British cops arrest another white victim of violence rather than minority assailant suspects

The British public and the world at large have been provided with yet more evidence that the U.K. justice system holds whites — white men in particular — to a different standard than virtually every other group.

Damning footage shows a group of six black individuals hectoring a young white man on Broad Street in Birmingham, England, on June 21.

'The police have lost the benefit of the doubt.'

As the voices grow louder, the individual focus of the mob's rage — a 20-year-old white man who has been identified as Cody Harper — turns his head to address someone to his left, video shows.

Apparently seizing upon the distraction, a man from the mob dressed in a black jacket makes a cowardly attack from the right, knocking Harper to the ground. The victim of this sneak attack attempts to stand up, but a different coward rushes in, this time punching Harper in the back of the head.

Harper attempts once again to regain his footing — only to be tackled against a nearby wall by a female police officer who was apparently disinterested in the attackers now fleeing the scene.

Disoriented after having been thrown to the ground, then sucker-punched, Harper blindly throws a punch in self-defense — but succeeds only in brushing off the officer's cap.

The female officer — who failed to identify herself as police — lunges for the Harper's neck then proceeds to handcuff the victim.

After Harper points out both that "they're tryin' to smack me up" and that he was just trying to "go home," the female officer appears to call him a "dick."

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"You're under arrest for assault on police," says the female officer, who — with another female police officer — proceeds to march Harper over to a police car. A male cop then shoves Harper into the police cruiser, and more female cops are later gathered in the area, video shows.

A witness off-camera explains to one of the officers: "Someone clotheslined him, then someone hit him from behind, and that's when you went in. All I can say in his defense is he probably thought you were one of the attackers at that moment."

The woman nods comprehendingly and replies, "Right. OK. So someone assaulted him first, right? OK."

After the footage of this incident went viral online, Birmingham Police said in a July 2 statement, "We are aware of footage showing the arrest of a man after a disorder on Broad Street at 1.30am on 21 June. Officers found a group of men fighting. As the incident was dealt with, an officer was punched. One man was arrested and charged with assaulting a police officer."

In addition to characterizing a violent, seemingly unprovoked mob attack on a single individual as a "fight" and claiming their lady officer was in the right, Birmingham Police implored the public not to share video of the incident — just as police in Northern Ireland asked the public last month not to spread video evidence of a beheading attempt, allegedly by a Sudanese asylum-seeker.

"The incident has been reviewed, and we have no concerns over the officer's actions and we are satisfied that they were reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances," the police department said in its July 2 statement. "We would ask that footage is not further shared to allow the legal process to take its course."

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British police officers in Birmingham, England. PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The official response by police exacerbated the public outrage over the incident, including from lawmakers.

James McMurdock, a Reform UK member of Parliament, wrote, "I can’t let this go unchallenged. That young man was, in my opinion and based on the video below, the clear victim of an assault. The video shows, for reasons that are entirely beyond my comprehension, the officer steaming directly into the victim."

"The officer made no effort to prevent the attack or apprehend the men who had just administered the violence. What I see in the video is the officer using speed and aggression at the moment of peak danger and confusion against the victim," continued McMurdock. "The victim then controls himself the moment he realises it is now a police officer attacking him and not one of the multiple men who were attacking him a fraction of a second earlier."

McMurdock said that Birmingham Police should drop the charges and put questions to the female officer about "why she went for the victim on the ground and not the attackers!"

Robert Jenrick, another member of Parliament for Reform UK, said that "it’s baffling that he was arrested while the two black men who attacked him weren’t."

In addition to raising concern about "the clear unequal treatment" by the female officer, Jenrick took issue with Birmingham Police's characterization of the attacks as a "fight."

"This wouldn’t be a one off incident either. We saw two-tier policing by Hampshire Police when they came to the scene of Henry Nowak. We saw it for decades across the county with the Grooming Gangs that went unpunished," wrote Jenrick. "The police have lost the benefit of the doubt in the eyes of many. They’ve had enough."

After similar critiques, the Birmingham Police issued a revised statement on July 3, this time expressing interest in an "assault." The revised statement refers to the arrest of a "20-year-old man," presumably Harper, but does not suggest he is the victim of the assault.

'Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes.'

"We are carrying out an investigation to identify people involved in an assault in Birmingham city centre," said Birmingham Police. "We are aware of footage on social media showing the incident before the man is arrested. Recognising that an assault has taken place, we are now carrying out active enquiries to identify those involved."

Birmingham Police noted further that "although officers were in the area when this assault took place, they were involved in the arrest of another man at the time."

Cody Harper is set to appear at Birmingham magistrates' court on July 23.

This incident took place just weeks after Southampton police released bodycam footage showing their two-tiered approach to the scene of the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak.

After fatally stabbing Nowak in an unprovoked attack on Dec. 3, a knife-wielding Sikh named Vickrum Digwa told police that he was the victim of a racist attack.

When police from the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary arrived on the scene, they reflexively adopted Digwa's framing of events and treated Nowak as a racist and a criminal as the teen lay dying — handcuffing him and brushing off his repeated complaints about having been stabbed and being unable to breathe.

The officers instead took a sympathetic approach to Digwa, never once handcuffing him even after discovering Nowak's stab wounds.

Officers' approach to Nowak and Harper may be informed, in part, by the anti-racism guidance issued by the National Police Chiefs' Council, which explicitly calls for treating people differently on the basis of race:

Our commitment to racial equity means producing equality of policing outcomes for people from different ethnic groups by responding to individuals and communities according to their specific needs, circumstances, and experiences, with understanding that these will be racialised and with the aim of reducing harm. It does not mean treating everyone "the same" or being "colour blind" (racial equality).