‘Changes’ made since death in cell

A police medical officer has said changes have been made since the death of Sentry Taitoko in police custody, and more patients are brought straight to the emergency department instead of being put in a cell.

Sentry Taitoko, 21, died in 2014 after consuming a drug cocktail and being put in a so-called ‘‘suicide cell’’ in a police station, where he was unrestrained and able to bang his head on concrete walls and floors an estimated 83 times. Yesterday the inquest into his death continued at the Auckland District Court in front of Coroner Debra Bell.

The inquest had to be adjourned last October due to the fire at the Sky City Convention Centre and was again delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In February 2014, Taitoko was taken into police custody for a breach of the peace early. He’d consumed alcohol, methamphetamine and cannabis and ‘‘not slept for some days’’, Coroner Bell previously said. Taitoko arrived at the Counties Manukau district custody unit about 1.45am on February 23. He was placed in ‘‘a suicide cell’’. Over several hours, a medical professional and a police officer observed Taitoko ‘‘coming into contact repeatedly with the walls and floor’’.

He said the medical professional, who was granted name suppression – which Stuff opposed in court – advised against taking Taitoko to hospital, apparently believing the hospital would not accept him. The inquest heard that at 4.26am, the motion-activated camera in Taitoko’s cell stopped working. He was checked, had breathing difficulties, and an ambulance was called. But Taitoko could not be resuscitated.

Yesterday, Dr John Bonning, who is also a police medical officer in Waikato and specialist emergency medical physician, said changes had been made since Taitoko’s death. Bonning said the course of action the medical officer took on the night was ‘‘not entirely unreasonable’’ but police and medical officers did things differently now. They were a lot less tolerant of the casual consultations and whether it was safe to leave somebody in the cells or taken to emergency departments.

When asked if any safety mechanism had been put in place since Taitoko’s death, Bonning said police medical officers’ paper work now has a framework for information from the person in custody to include drugs, alcohol, mental or medical illness. The police also have clear guidelines to ensure people are safe to stay in the cells or otherwise.