Man dies in custody - Hertfordshire Constabulary, September 2017
In September 2017 two Hertfordshire Constabulary officers arrested a man for being intoxicated, in breach of a criminal behaviour order. They took him into custody in the back of a police van. The man fell to the floor of the police van on the way to custody. The officers stopped their vehicle. One officer checked on the man, found him in the foetal position on the floor, established he was still responsive and decided to leave him in that position. They continued driving the man to custody. On the way, the officers were diverted to another police station. On arrival the man remained in the van while one of the officers arranged for the man to be booked in custody. When officers opened the door of the police van they found the man was unresponsive. An ambulance was called and was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Paramedics arrived a few minutes later and gave the man extensive advanced life-support treatment, but he was pronounced dead shortly after.
During the investigation, investigators interviewed several witnesses, including ambulance service staff and a first-aid trainer. We found indications that the two officers who took the man into custody may have breached the standards of professional conduct.
The post-mortem concluded that the man had died from cardiac arrest and indicated that, while there may have been failings in the care offered to the man, there was no indication that these had contributed to the man’s death.
Based on the evidence available we were of the opinion that both officers may have a case to answer for misconduct for failing to take action for approximately 12 minutes when the man was found unresponsive, failing to immediately raise the alarm and request medical attention, failing to remove the man from the van and administer CPR immediately. In addition, we were of the view that one of the officers may have a case to answer for misconduct for failing in their duty of care towards the man after he fell on the floor in the van on the way to custody, and deciding to leave the man in a foetal position. We concluded our investigation in August 2018.
After reviewing our report Hertfordshire Constabulary agreed. The two officers attended a misconduct meeting in early 2019, where it was found that they had breached professional standards of behaviour in the care they offered to the man. Both received management action.