Hackney man dies in police chase

Investigators will look into why a young man died after police chased him, caught him and pushed him to the ground. The incident took place in Hackney in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Chief Superintendent Simon Laurence, Hackney Borough Commander, explained how the incident began, saying, “…officers attempted to stop a car on Kingsland Road, E8. A man who was in the car was pursued on foot before entering a shop where he was seen to be trying to swallow an object.” Commander Laurence continues, “He was then taken ill.”

The young man has been named locally as Rashan Jermaine Charles, aged 20. His family have released CCTV footage from the shop where “he was then taken ill” – which makes disturbing viewing. Charles enters the shop and a police officer comes up behind him and appears to stop him and handcuff him and march him out of the shop.

•Watch the CCTV footage from the shop where Charles was restrained:
SHOP CCTV

As they move down the aisle and towards the exit, Charles appears to put his hand to his mouth – then they move out of view. A couple of seconds later, they hurtle back into view. The police officer pushes Charles down to the ground and appears to be trying to pull something out of his mouth as the two of them circle round on the floor.

When Commander Laurence refers to Charles having tried “to swallow an object” it is not clear whether this refers to the moment when Charles put his hand to his mouth just before he was cuffed or to something which happened when he was out of view of the CCTV camera (although the latter seems unlikely, as it appears that his hands were secured behind his back at that point).

An unidentified man, either the shopkeeper or a shopper, watches the police officer and his captive on the floor. A second unidentified man then appears and put his weight on top of Charles, pinning him down to the floor. Forty seconds in to the video clip, Charles stops moving. The statement from Commander Laurence continues, “He [Charles] was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service where, sadly, he died later that morning. Our thoughts remain with his family and friends.”

Police sources later confirmed Charles was taken to the Royal London Hospital and other reports say that he died just before 3am. A post mortem examination was expected to take place today, Sunday

The IPCC has issued a statement confirming that they launched an independent investigation into the incident as early as 3.10am on Saturday and have met the deceased man’s family. They give the bare facts of the case and indicate that they have taken initial witness statements from the police officers involved and also from members of the public who were present. They confirm that they have viewed CCTV footage taken in the shop as well as video footage taken from the police officers’ body worn video. They also say that they have evidence indicating that an object was removed from Charles’s throat at the scene.

Friends and family of Mr Charles have spoken out, paying tribute to him. They have described him as a young father who had been visiting his grandmother before the incident occurred.

•The IPCC has asked that anyone who was in the Kingsland Road/Middleton Road area in the early hours of Saturday morning to contact them via:
witness_contact@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk.

•Read more about it:
Operation Duntroon: ten in court
Four guns off the streets; one youth in prison

[Adverts]