News

Police to send prosecutors file on Land Rover incident

POLICE will send a file to prosecutors about the incident involving Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly being carried on the front of a PSNI Land Rover.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott confirmed that the altercation between officers and Policing Board member Mr Kelly was under investigation.

Mr Kelly was carried on the front of the vehicle for a short distance following the loyalist Tour of the North parade in Belfast last month.

Video footage showed the Sinn Fein MLA on the bonnet and clinging to the grille.

He said he had tried to stop the Land Rover to speak to officers who had arrested a 16-year-old but that as he clung to the front of the vehicle the officer drove it away.

Sinn Fein culture, arts and leisure minister Caral Ni Chuilin was treated for a shoulder injury after being struck by the Land Rover while trying to help Mr Kelly.

During a Policing Board meeting on Thursday assembly member Ian McCrea asked Mr Baggott whether action was being taken against Mr Kelly following what the DUP man called the Sinn Fein member's "obstruction" of police.

Mr Baggott told the meeting that he was "not going to make a judgment by using words like 'obstruction'".

"What I would say is that those circumstances will be subject to investigation and as would happen in any case a file will be presented to the Public Prosecution Service who will make a judgment independent of police," he said.

Mr Kelly was present at Thursday's Policing Board meeting but left before the issue was raised.