Response to calls about a man’s behaviour - Avon and Somerset Constabulary November 2019

At 5:38am on 17 November 2019, a member of the public reported to Avon and Somerset Constabulary (A&SC) that it sounded like a resident of a flat in the block in which the caller lived was ‘smashing the flat up’ and that someone was now trying to force entry into the caller’s flat. Further calls to the police reported that items were being thrown out of a window of a top floor flat, and that there was flooding in the block of flats and that the electricity had gone off.

Officers were dispatched to the incident and arrived within a few minutes. They were unable to gain entry to the flat and had to force the door open. A man was located within the flat and officers deployed a Taser twice before being able to arrest and handcuff him.

Following a complaint from the man’s father, A&SC referred the matter to us. We interviewed witnesses and obtained their accounts, and secured material including body worn camera footage and information about the Taser use. In addition, an account was obtained from the officer who used the Taser.

Throughout the investigation, there was no indication that any individual may have behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings or committed a criminal offence.

At the conclusion of the investigation, having considered all of the evidence gathered, we did not uphold the complaints.

Throughout this investigation, we carefully considered whether there were any opportunities for organisational learning or improvement. In this case we did not identify any learning.