Pc Simon Harwood is giving evidence for a second day at the inquest The Pc who pushed Ian Tomlinson at the April 2009 G20 protests did so after a strike on the thigh had failed to move the newspaper seller away from the police line, an inquest has heard.
Pc Simon Harwood told the London hearing he had been “amazed” when Mr Tomlinson fell forward.
The 47-year-old collapsed and died moments after he had been pushed.
Earlier, Pc Harwood told how he had palmed off protesters and pushed a cameraman before the encounter.
The inquest heard how the officer had been “frightened and confused” after confrontations got “out of hand” minutes before Mr Tomlinson’s death.
On Monday, members of Mr Tomlinson’s family walked out of the inquest after the police officer had started giving evidence.
Pc Harwood, part of the Metropolitan Police’s specialist Territorial Support Group (TSG), was caught on film pushing Mr Tomlinson to the ground in Cornhill, central London.
The inquest, at the International Dispute Resolution Centre, is examining the actions of the police, the pathologist and independent investigators.
Pc Harwood told the court of the moments leading up to Mr Tomlinson’s death.
He said he had had to “recompose myself” after several confrontations as the demonstrations got “out of hand”.
Mr Tomlinson was filmed moments before he died on 1 April 2009 He said he had been “frightened and confused” in the tense atmosphere and after being hit on the back by an object and palming off a protester who had approached him with a “clenched fist”, he had felt “very” scared.
As video footage was played to a jury of Pc Harwood at the Royal Exchange Buildings, the officer said: “I was frightened and confused, I wondered where I was.”
He said he had to find time to recompose himself after realising he had lost his colleagues.
On Monday, Pc Harwood told how he had been in fear for his life after attracting the attention of a “hostile crowd”.
He said protesters had jeered and shouted as he tried to arrest a man on suspicion of criminal damage to one of the police vans.
There was a “large gasp” from the crowd as the suspect he had hold of collided with the door of a police van, he said.
Footage showed him leading the man further away from the vans with the crowd surging behind him.
“At the time because he was becoming more aggressive, more hostile, I was starting to believe that this was getting out of control.
“I was aware there was a very hostile crowd and I was actually in fear for my life then from what was coming towards me.”
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.