Man dies after being restrained and Tasered - Devon and Cornwall Police, May 2017

A man was visiting friends on the evening of 23 May 2017. He had recently experienced mental health issues and episodes of paranoia, and had been taking cocaine. That evening, the man took a significant amount of cocaine and produced a large knife. He then jumped or fell out of his friend’s bedroom window into the street below.

Shortly afterwards, Devon and Cornwall Police received reports that the man had stabbed a woman in the leg with a large kitchen knife, causing her superficial injuries. The man was reported to be walking down the street armed with the knife. When officers arrived on the scene, they observed that the man was harming himself by cutting his neck with the knife. An officer made the decision to approach him and ask him to drop the knife. When the man did not comply, the officer Tasered him three times in order to try to disarm him. The man was incapacitated by Taser but did not drop the knife, so another officer struck the man’s wrist with a baton and successfully disarmed him.

A member of the public, who identified himself as the man’s brother, approached officers and told them that the man had taken cocaine and been experiencing mental health issues.

The man soon became unresponsive and officers performed first aid on him until paramedics attended the scene. He was taken to hospital but died later that evening.

A post-mortem examination found that the man had died of a multiple causes, including the use of cocaine, an episode of altered behaviour including self-harm, excitement, exertion, and restraint including the discharge of a Taser.

Our investigators attended the scene the day after the incident, where they took statements from witnesses and the man’s family and friends. We also attended the post-mortem examination and arranged for further medical tests to be carried out to establish the cause of the man’s death. We obtained witness accounts from the officers and paramedics who had attended the scene, and established the policies and procedures used by Devon and Cornwall Police in relation to Taser.

The evidence suggested that officers acted in accordance with legislation, national and local policies, and local training procedures when using force, specifically Taser, against the man. We also found that the officer who Tasered the man had acted in accordance with a training scenario in which officers were taught to use an extended Taser cycle to ensure someone self-harming with a knife was safely disarmed.

At the end of the investigation, based on the evidence available, we found no indication that any person serving with the police may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings.

We completed our investigation in December 2017 but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had concluded, in early 2020, to publish its outcome.