‘I took Sheku down as CS spray had no effect on him’
A POLICE officer ‘shoulder charged’ Sheku Bayoh to the ground and punched him because CS spray was not working, an inquiry heard.
Mr Bayoh died after he stopped breathing when he was detained by Police Scotland officers.
PC Craig Walker, who the inquiry heard weighed 25 stone at the time of the incident, responded to 999 calls about Mr Bayoh allegedly carrying a knife and attacking vehicles in Kirkcaldy’s hayfield Road just after 7am. he said he saw Mr Bayoh carry out a ‘full force stamp’ on another officer, PC nicole Short.
The inquiry heard PC Walker and his colleague PC Alan Paton tried to spray Mr Bayoh with incapacitants during the incident on May 3, 2015, but their sprays did not appear to have any effect on him.
A statement from PC Walker was read out at the inquiry in edinburgh yesterday, which said: ‘I had a clear and unobstructed view of him [Mr Bayoh] and saw him with his right leg in a high, raised position. he had his arms up and brought his right foot down in a full force stamp down on to her [PC Short’s] lower back, the kidney area.’
Under questioning from inquiry counsel Angela Grahame, QC, PC Walker said he had initially decided to strike Mr Bayoh with a baton, but instead shoulder-charged him as another officer was in an ‘altercation’ with the 31-year-old.
he said: ‘I decided that the baton wasn’t the best option. To get him on the ground to get some sort of control over him would have been the best option. So I dropped the baton and proceeded with the shoulder-charge.’
With both men on the ground, PC Walker said there was an ‘exchange of punches’ between them.
he said: ‘It was an ongoing situation, trying to get him under enough control to get handcuffs on him.’
In his statement, PC Walker said he was not punching Mr Bayoh at full force, describing it as ‘pulled punches delivered tactically’ in order to apply handcuffs.
he told Miss Grahame he thought the force he used at this point was reasonable, saying: ‘he’s shown violent behaviour at that point.’
Miss Grahame asked: ‘At any stage did you lie on Sheku Bayoh?’
PC Walker said: ‘I think as part of having to reach across him the upper part of my body was on his shoulder.’
The officer demonstrated to the inquiry how he had restrained Mr Bayoh’s arms, saying the 31-year-old was not flat on his front.
A video was played to the inquiry showing CCTV footage overlayed with police radio messages exchanged at the time of the incident.
Miss Grahame said it showed that it took around 75 seconds between when PCs Walker and Paton arrived on the scene to when Mr Bayoh was restrained on the ground.
She said: ‘Do you think that’s maybe too short, that you didn’t spend enough time carrying out your assessment or trying to communicate with Mr Bayoh?’
PC Walker replied: ‘no. We tried everything.’ he also told the inquiry he heard a rib break while performing CPR on Mr Bayoh after he became unconscious during his arrest.
The inquiry, before Lord Bracadale, continues.