Police contact with a man – Metropolitan Police Service, March 2020

In March 2020, Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers attended reports of a man acting erratically, attacking bins and members of the public, on a housing estate in London. 

As officers approached the man, he climbed into a tree on the estate. The officers attempted to reason with him for approximately 15 minutes and called for additional assistance from fire and ambulance services. During this time, he climbed to the top of the tree and refused to come down. Shortly afterwards, the man came out of the tree, falling towards the ground. 

The officers and firefighters performed CPR until the ambulance service arrived. The helicopter emergency medical service pronounced the man dead at the scene.

We specifically investigated the police response to the 999 calls and their subsequent contact with the man before he died at the scene. 

We attended the post-incident procedures at the police station and managed the scene remotely due to the governmental measures in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

We obtained statements from all police officers who attended the incident and from members of the public who called the police and witnessed what happened. 

We analysed police body worn video and mobile phone footage provided by members of the public. We also reviewed documents and reports provided by the MPS. 

Our investigation concluded in June 2020, but we waited for all associated proceedings to be finalised before publishing our outcome. 

Our investigation concluded there was no indication any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence. 

The 12 officers who attended the scene had considered multiple options to protect his life and we found no evidence to suggest the cause of the man’s death was attributable to the actions of any of the officers involved.

In March 2023, an inquest was held to determine the cause of the man’s death. They concluded he died from an accidental death as a result of falling from a tree. 

The Coroner decided to issue a Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report to address concerns arising from the inquest. The purpose of a PFD is to report any person or organisation where action should be taken in similar circumstances to prevent future deaths.

We carefully considered whether there were any organisational learning opportunities arising from our IOPC investigation. We make learning recommendations to improve policing and public confidence in the police complaints system, and prevent a recurrence of similar incidents. 

In our case, we did not identify organisational learning.