Police Used ‘Unsuitable Force’ On Mentally Ill Man Who Died In Custody

A jury has ruled in a damning verdict that police used inappropriate conduct that contributed to the death of man in their custody.

In yet another of hundreds of deaths of people held in the custody of UK police an inquest jury has ruled that the police and the independent commission involved in investigating the incident are guilty of covering up another heinous crime.

This time a mentally-ill man continued to be handcuffed by police long after they knew something was wrong and even after the man’s heart stopped beating.

Partial positional asphyxia, as a result of restraint using “unnecessary body weight”, was given as one cause of death and the jury ruled the gang of police used necessary force when holding the man under in a prone position for over 8 minutes after which he went into cardiac arrest.

Following the ruling of the inquest jury the man’s family is calling for criminal charges to be pressed.

Even if they are pressed, the  hundreds upon hundreds of past cases are any indication of how this case will turn out corrupt prosecutors and rigged jurors will once again clear the police of any wrongdoing.

The number has now grown to 1,433 deaths of people in the hands of police custody throughout the United Kingdom without one single successful criminal prosecution.

The inquest jury also found that the police were “at best misleading the jury or at worst lying under oath” when they claimed the man was walking independently and then suddenly collapsed.

Even worse, they blasted the independent commission who investigated the incident with access to the same evidence they had but came to the conclusion the police were not guilty of wrongdoing – apparently after taking the testimony of the police over what the evidence showed.

Zen Have reports:

A mentally ill man died in police custody after officers used “unsuitable” force during an “unnecessarily” long restraint, an inquest jury has ruled.

In a damning verdict, jurors found that unacceptable and inappropriate actions by Metropolitan Police officers contributed to the death of Sean Rigg, 40, in August 2008. The jurors rejected much of the evidence given to the inquest by the constables involved.

Last night, Mr Rigg’s family called for criminal charges against the police, who they accused of “at best misleading the jury or at worst lying under oath”.They also condemned the Independent Police Complaints Commission over its “inadequate and obstructive” initial investigation that found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr Rigg, a musician and producer, was restrained and arrested after attacking members of the public with karate-style moves on the Weir estate in Balham, south London. He was put in a police van and taken to nearby Brixton police station, where he died later of a cardiac arrest.

Southwark Coroner’s Court heard that Mr Rigg had been suffering from a mental breakdown after not taking his medication. The jury returned a narrative verdict, finding that the arresting officers used “unsuitable” force when putting him in the prone position with his face to the ground for eight minutes.

Reading out the verdict yesterday, the coroner, Dr Andrew Harris, said: “The level of force used on Sean Rigg whilst he was restrained in the prone position at the Weir estate was unsuitable. The length of restraint in the prone position was therefore unnecessary. The majority view of the jury is that this more than minimally contributed to Sean’s death.”

Mr Rigg was living at a hostel in Brixton the time of his breakdown. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust was found to have failed to carry out appropriate mental health assessments, which also contributed to his death.

Partial positional asphyxia, as a result of restraint using “unnecessary body weight”, was given as one cause of death. The jury also criticised the arresting officers – PCs Matthew Forward, Richard Glasson, Mark Harratt and Andrew Birks .

Mr Rigg’s death was the latest in a long line of deaths in police custody of black men and mentally-ill people, and his case highlights the obstacles families face in establishing the truth. Since 1990, 1,433 people have died in custody or following contact with police in England and Wales; there have been no successful criminal prosecutions.

Mr Rigg’s relatives criticised the coroner’s decision not to allow the jury to consider verdicts of unlawful killing or neglect. The family, who are considering a legal challenge, said: “We call for an urgent public inquiry to establish why the system in this country consistently fails to deliver justice to the many families whose loved ones have died in police custody.”

They also called for “fundamental reform” of the IPCC. After an 18-month investigation, the watchdog found that none of the officers involved had a case to answer – in stark contrast to the jury, which had access to much of the same evidence.

In February 2010, the IPCC concluded that officers had correctly followed procedures and policies. Yet the jury rejected the evidence given by numerous officers that Mr Rigg was walking independently and breathing normally until he collapsed suddenly in a caged area at the police station.

Jurors concluded that his physical condition deteriorated when he was restrained because his brain was deprived of oxygen. It then worsened on the van journey to the police station, so he was “extremely unwell and not fully conscious” by the time he was “carried” into the cage.

The officers’ failure to provide him with appropriate care at every stage, and the lack of urgency in their response, more than minimally contributed to his death, the jurors said.

They were shown CCTV footage of Mr Rigg being “stood up” by officers when he was unconscious in the cage, which jurors described as “unacceptable and inappropriate”.

Leaving him handcuffed when he was unconscious and his heart not beating was “unnecessary and inappropriate”, they added. They also said that the failure of officers to recognise and assess Mr Rigg’s physical and mental state at any point after his arrest was “inadequate”.

The IPCC’s conclusions apppeared to be undermined by photographs, 999 calls and CCTV footage presented to the jury, and by inconsistent evidence given by the officers in court.

Mr Rigg, who had a 20-year history of relapsing psychoses and had been sectioned many times, was well known to Brixton police, the inquest was told. Officers failed to communicate and relay important information about his mental health that night.

Around half of all deaths during or following police contact involve a person with mental health problems.

Deborah Coles from Inquest said: ““The individual and institutional neglect uncovered by this inquest should prompt the Home Office and Department of Health to urgently review how the police and mental health providers work together to respond to people in crisis and in conflict with the law… It is frightening that the callous indifference shown by the police to a vulnerable, mentally ill black man may still be replicated today.”

The “unacceptable failure” by 999 call handlers to act appropriately in response to five requests for emergency help by the hostel where Rigg lived was also “unacceptable and inappropriate”.

The damning narrative verdict was delivered by an 11 person jury after hearing evidence from over 60 witnesses over seven weeks, who were applauded at the packed Southwark Coroner’s Court for their diligence and intelligent questioning.

[...]

Source: Zen Haven

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