Man injured while in police custody - South Wales Police, April 2018

On 3 April 2018, South Wales Police officers responded to a 999 call from a member of the public who stated a man was acting in a threatening manner and trying to fight people in the street. When they attended the scene, officers spoke to the man, who then tried to leave the area. The officers prevented the man from doing so, applied handcuffs and arrested him for a Public Order offence.

While he was being transported to a custody suite, the man banged his head a number of times on the Perspex walls inside the police van. The man initially ignored a police officer’s verbal instructions to stop banging his head, but then stopped and laid down in the van before becoming aggressive once again.

While at the custody suite, the man banged his head one further time on the custody officer’s desk. The man was placed in a cell and later complained that his head was hurting. At this point, the custody officer consulted with a healthcare practitioner. The man was taken to hospital, where he was diagnosed as having a minor bleed on his brain. The man remained under observations in hospital before being discharged 48 hours later.

Our investigation considered whether the actions of the police officers were appropriate in the circumstances. We obtained a witness statement from the man who suffered the injury. We also obtained accounts from the two initial officers who responded to the 999 call and those who transported the man to the custody suite. The actions of these officers were reviewed against body-worn footage of both the initial incident and transportation to the custody suite. We examined CCTV from the custody suite together with the police custody record and various other documents. We reviewed the actions of the officers involved in this incident against relevant South Wales Police policies and national guidance.

The investigation found there was no evidence to indicate the police may have caused or contributed to the man’s injury. The investigation concluded there was no indication that any police officer may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.