Inquest opens into death of man in custody / Britain / Features ...
Twenty-five-year-old Jacob Michael, from Widnes, called police in an agitated state on August 22 2011, saying his family had been threatened.
When the police arrived at the house, they forced their way into his bedroom, spraying him in the face with pepper spray.
Mr Michael ran out of the house and down the street with officers pursuing him and striking him with batons before restraining him and putting him in the back of a police van to take him into custody at Runcorn police station.
He was left face down on the floor of a police cell for several minutes with police officers standing on his legs, where he died. Much of the incident was captured on CCTV.
Mr Michael's family said they hoped the inquest would answer serious questions concerning the officers' actions, the failure to treat him as a medical emergency rather than take him to the police station and the overall attitude of police to a young man who was "clearly confused, frightened and unwell."
Mr Michael's mother Ann said: "My son called the police for help and they sprayed him with pepper spray and arrested him.
"Two hours later there was a knock on my door by the police to say that he had passed away. He was a fit 25-year-old man. I want to know why. I just can't understand it."
Campaign group Inquest co-director Deborah Coles said: "Yet again, we begin an inquest into a death following restraint in police custody of a young black man.
"This is a particularly disturbing and distressing death, made all the more so by the existence of CCTV footage for much of his last minutes alive.
"Serious questions must be asked about how a young man in distress came to be hit with batons, restrained and disregarded while he lay dying on a police cell floor.
"It is vital both for Jacob Michael's family and the public that this is a far-reaching and thorough inquest into his death."
Source: http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/content/view/full/124438
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