Sheku TV footage raises questions on death in custody
DRAMATIC new footage in a TV documentary has raised questions about how a man died after being restrained by police in the street.
Sheku Bayoh died in 2015 after being pinned to the ground by police following reports that he was seen acting erratically in the street and carrying a knife.
now a BBC documentary has raised questions about the police’s account of what happened prior to Mr Bayoh’s death in Kirkcaldy, Fife, three years ago.
Aired last night, the programme questioned the circumstances surrounding Mr Bayoh’s death after officers claimed he had ‘punched, kicked and stamped on a petite female officer’ while in custody.
The death of the father of two sparked complaints of police brutality and racism and prompted a probe into whether undue force was used to restrain him. His family have
‘It sent chills through me’
branded the case a ‘national disgrace’ and launched a £1.85million civil action against Police Scotland.
The incident sparked a row that plunged Police Scotland into crisis.
But a Crown Office investigation lasting more than three years found there are no grounds for criminal charges against the officers.
The Disclosure: Dead in Police Custody programme claimed CCTV footage throws into doubt claims a female officer was kicked and stamped on by Mr Bayoh.
It also alleges that the first officers on scene may have escalated the situation instead of trying to defuse it, that Mr Bayoh’s actions were exaggerated in official police documents and that racism may have played a part in his death.
The programme showed for the first time footage of Mr Bayoh, who had taken MDMA and a drug called ‘flakka’ prior to the incident, being restrained by five officers. Statements by officers said Mr Bayoh had been restrained for a maximum of 30 seconds and the techniques used were ‘appropriate, text book stuff’ in line with their training.
However, it emerged that a civilian witness told investigators that officers were lying across Mr Bayoh for several minutes.
The witness said: ‘I heard him screaming. It sent chills through me. I heard the man shout to the police to get off him. They never moved.’
Separate CCTV footage of the incident was examined by eric Baskind, an expert in police restraint at Liverpool John Moores University.
He told the BBC: ‘what strikes me from the evidence of the officers is they approach the scene with the intention of using force. He’s not running away, he’s not creating a danger to anyone. They get there, screech to a halt, get out of the cars with irritant sprays and batons. All those actions were very escalatory.’
He added that he could see ‘no evidence at all of two stamping attacks on the officer on the ground’, though the footage shows Mr Bayoh knocking a female officer to the ground with a punch to the face.
Deborah Coles, of the charity Inquest, which investigates deaths in custody, said: ‘Racial stereotyping of black men informs the way in which they are treated.’
Bayoh family lawyer Aamer Anwar told the BBC racism has been ‘the elephant in the room’.
Police Scotland deputy dhief constable Fiona Taylor said: ‘Police Scotland has been committed to cooperating with the PIRC [Police Investigations and Review Commissioner] and the Crown Office, and while this continues we cannot comment further.’
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents some of the officers involved in the restraint, said the BBC had broadcast ‘fundamental inaccuracies’ about the case.