Band wrongly arrested at gunpoint to sue police

Members of London band, The Thirst, their manager and a roadie have hired a civil rights law firm to sue police after they were falsely arrested at gunpoint and held for 15 hours based on wrong information, according to a report by Trudy Simpson on www.voice-online.co.uk.



\"We have now instructed leading civil rights solicitors Bindmans LLP to act for all of us involved,\" band manager Kingsley Slater said.



Acting on wrong information from CCTV operators that a gun had been spotted, Staffordshire police arrested band members Kwame Hart, Mensah Hart, Marcus Harris, Mark Lenihan, Slater and stand-in roadie Jonathan Morton-Clark on November 21.



The south London band, who has toured with the Rolling Stones and Babyshambles, had not committed a crime but said they were handcuffed and arrested in full view of the public and detained in police cells for over 15 hours. The band members, who had to give DNA samples, were later released without charge.



Slater said they are taking legal action to ‘obtain a full explanation and confirmation of steps taken to ensure such an incident would not be repeated, a full public apology, destruction of DNA samples and appropriate compensation from the chief constable of Staffordshire Constabulary’.



A statement from Staffordshire Police made ‘an unreserved apology’ for the blunder, stating on November 30 that they have begun a review into the incident and that the men’s DNA samples would be destroyed.



But the police claimed armed officers, who turned up with six cars and a helicopter, \"received a call made in good faith by council CCTV operators\" and that they \"believe that the men were treated equally following their detention\".



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