Jaywalking historian suffers ‘abominable treatment’

A DISTINGUISHED British historian claims he was knocked to the ground by an American policeman before being arrested and spending eight hours in a grim jail because he crossed the road in the wrong place.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, 56, said he had been the victim of “terrible violence” after he inadvertently committed the offence of “jaywalking” in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.

The slight, bespectacled professor claimed five burly officers pinned him to the ground after policeman Kevin Leonpacher kicked his legs from under him as he hesitated to show his ID.