Contact with a man shortly before his death - Wiltshire Police, October 2016

On 26 October 2016 Wiltshire Police was called to a house, following reports of a man cutting his wrists. A number of officers attended and spoke to the man through the front door. The man did not allow police officers to enter the house and threatened them with violence if they did.

Officers became concerned for the man and gained entry to the house. One officer then deployed their Taser in order to incapacitate the man so that he could receive medical attention. The man became unresponsive, despite attempts by the officer to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was declared dead by attending paramedics.

A post-mortem found that the man died from self-inflicted wounds to his neck.

Investigators attended post-incident procedures. During the investigation, they interviewed the officers who attended the address as key police witnesses. They also obtained statements from other police officers and a member of the public who were at the scene. We conducted house-to-house enquiries and reviewed airwaves transmissions, as well as data downloaded from the Taser discharged. Investigators also attended the post-mortem examination.

The evidence indicated that officers acted in accordance with their training and guidance. The post-mortem report concluded that, given the extent of the man’s injuries, a fatal outcome was inevitable regardless of the officers’ interaction with him.

Based on the evidence available the Investigator 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 concluded our investigation in May 2017, but waited until the inquest into the man’s death had taken place, in September 2018, to publish our findings.