Man becomes unwell in custody - Northumbria Police, October 2018

On 31 October 2018, a Northumbria Police officer arrested a man on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and escorted him to the custody suite at Forth Banks police station in Newcastle. During the booking-in process the man, who appeared to be heavily intoxicated, became violent, abusive and spat at officers. As a result, officers took him to the floor, applied limb restraints, placed a spit hood over his head and then took him directly to a cell. The custody officer tasked two officers to undertake close proximity supervision, which commenced at 12.15am on 1 November 2018.

At 1.05am, a detention officer entered the cell to do a welfare check on the man. They could not rouse him and reported it to the custody officer, who immediately summoned the custody healthcare professional (HCP) to examine him. The HCP noted the man had a very high pulse rate and dilated pupils and so administered naloxone (a medication used to block the effects of opioids). The man began to show signs of recovery before the paramedics arrived at custody. At approximately 1.30am, he was taken by ambulance to hospital. He made a full recovery and returned to custody at 3.49am the same day. He was later released under investigation in relation to the alleged assault.

During the investigation, our investigators reviewed CCTV footage from the custody suite as well as the custody record. They obtained witness accounts from police officers and staff, and from two independent witnesses present in the custody suite.

We found an initial indication that the custody officer and two police officers may have behaved in a manner that would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings, and served them with notices of investigation. All three co-operated with the investigation and provided detailed written accounts outlining their rationale for their decisions and actions.

At the conclusion of the investigation we were of the opinion that none of the officers had a case to answer for misconduct, but that two of the officers would benefit from receiving management action with regard to their supervision of the detainee. We concluded our investigation in April 2019.

After reviewing our report, Northumbria Police agreed with our findings.