Dad died after ‘violent struggle’ with officers at police station
CORONER DESCRIBES EVENTS CAUGHT ON CCTV TO INQUEST JURY
A DAD shouted “they’re killing me” before he died in hospital following a “violent struggle” with officers at a police station, a coroner has told a jury.
Father-of-three Andrew Hall, from Dalton, was originally taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in September 2016 after taking a large amount of alcohol and prescribed drugs, an inquest in Bradford heard yesterday.
But the 43-year-old was arrested and taken to the West Yorkshire town’s police station after slapping a nurse, assistant coroner Oliver Longstaff said.
Addressing a jury at the opening of the inquest, Mr Longstaff described how joiner Mr Hall was initially co-operative in the cells but, after a nurse began assessing his condition, he said a violent struggle ensued with a number of officers attempting to restrain him.
The coroner said the whole incident was captured on CCTV, which will be shown during the inquest, and he described in detail how this showed up to six officers struggling with Mr Hall.
Mr Longstaff said an officer could be heard at one point shouting “give up now” and one also says “take him down”.
He told the jury they would have come to their own conclusions: “Without doubt, the struggle can be described neutrally as violent.
“And you will see up to six officers are trying to control Andrew.” The coroner went on to describe how Mr Hall was eventually doublehandcuffed and put in leg restraints before he was taken back to the Infirmary on a stretcher.
Mr Longstaff said Mr Hall was lying face down on a trolley being restrained by several police officers when he was examined at the hospital.
He said: “Andrew was still struggling.
At this point Andrew was seen to be sweating profusely, spitting and screaming for help, shouting ‘they’re killing me.’”
A decision was taken to sedate Mr Hall so further medical examinations could be completed and it was after his sedation that he went into cardiac arrest and could not be resuscitated.
It was later found that he had a undiagnosed severe heart condition, the coroner said.
He told the jury how four pathologists agreed that Mr Hall’s cause of death was “multifactorial” and potential causes included heart
At this point Andrew was seen to be shouting
‘they’re killing me’
disease, ingestion of alcohol and drugs including co-codamol and amitriptyline, the stress of the events at the hospital and police station, his weight, as well as the restraint by the officers.
The coroner told the jury he had been challenged by Leslie Thomas QC, representing Mr Hall’s family, about his reference to Mr Hall as a “large man”.
He said the barrister was concerned that the coroner had “perpetuated racist tropes or stereotypical descriptions of black men generally”.
Mr Longstaff assured the jury that his summary of the evidence did not include his own opinions.
The inquest is expected to take up to 10 weeks.