Man died after he was pinned down during armed raid
INQUEST HEARS ROBBER WAS HELD DOWN BY OFF-DUTY POLICE
A MAN taking part in an armed robbery died after being tackled by members of the public, including an off-duty police officer, and then pinned down for 17 minutes, a jury has heard.
Shane Bryant lost consciousness at the scene of the crime, the Co-op, in Market Street, Ashby, and could not be revived by paramedics. A pathologist later found the cause of his death was an inability to breathe.
The incident happened just before 10pm on Thursday, July 13, 2017, but few details were made public until Monday afternoon, when the inquest into Mr Bryant’s death began at Loughborough Town Hall.
Mr Bryant was confronted by a group of people, including an offduty Leicestershire Police officer, during the robbery, the hearing was told.
The 29-year-old made a run for the door, but as he tried to jump over a low security gate he banged his head on the concrete roof and fell to the ground outside, where members of the public grabbed him.
Mr Bryant, who was muscular, 5ft 8ins tall and about 16st, struggled free, but was brought to the ground a second time.
At that point, the getaway driver drove his Audi at the group, forcing them to run out of the way.
One member of the public was hit by the Audi as it then fled the scene.
The off-duty officer and another man kept hold of Mr Bryant. He was pinned to the ground for just over 17 minutes until more police arrived.
When the additional officers were on the scene, paramedics, who had also been summoned, were called over to check on Mr Bryant, who was unresponsive.
He was given CPR but never regained consciousness.
Mr Bryant was pronounced dead at the Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham.
At the hearing, Coroner Michael Auty QC told the jury an investigation by pathologists found the cause of death was Mr Bryant’s inability to breathe – either caused by his chest being compressed or his mouth and nose being blocked.
There was a head injury the pathologists considered “insufficient to be fatal”, the jury heard.
Mr Auty told the jury that race should not be a factor in their decision-making about the death of Mr Bryant, who was black.
He said: “What you’re looking at here is the reasonableness of Shane Bryant’s detention or restraint.
“Please resist the temptation to come to any generalised opinion of whether you think that police officers might be inclined to treat certain sections of the community differently. It doesn’t matter. It’s this particular incident you’re examining.”
The inquest heard Mr Bryant had been wearing a balaclava and was armed with a baseball bat during the robbery.
While the getaway driver waited outside in the Audi, Mr Bryant ran into the shop with an accomplice, who had been armed with a golf club.
Mr Bryant leapt on top of the counter and threatened the two female members of staff, dragging one woman to the back of the shop before forcing the shop manager to open the safe.
After he had loaded a bag full of cash, the group from the pub arrived.
The group, including the offduty police officer, had been at The Tap pub over the road from the Co-op when they spotted the Audi getaway car.
Mr Bryant’s accomplice managed to escape as the police officer and another man chased Mr Bryant around the shop. At one point, the civilian was knocked to the floor and Mr Bryant stamped on his head, leaving him with a bleeding nose.
Earlier in the inquest, which is set to continue for the rest of the month, a statement about Mr Bryant by his niece, Renee, was read out.
It said: “Throughout Shane’s life there were times he was misunderstood and times he was misled.
“He struggled with his mental health, but Shane was an energetic, upbeat, imaginative and creative individual.
“It’s very hard for us as a family to understand how Shane got involved [in the robbery].
“We are a hard-working family. “As a family we had no doubt Shane needed to be arrested. He should have ended up in prison. He shouldn’t have ended up in a coffin.”
Because of the involvement of a serving police officer, the Independent Police Complaints Commission carried out an investigation but its report has not yet been published.
The inquest continues.