Two police officers were cleared of misconduct after a panel ruled they did not hear a dying man say he couldn’t breathe in Lewisham
Lewisham: So, here’s the scoop. Two Metropolitan Police officers just got cleared of any wrongdoing after a panel looked into a pretty tragic case. They were accused of not hearing a man, Kevin Clarke, say he couldn’t breathe before he died.
This all goes back to March 2018 when Kevin, who had paranoid schizophrenia, was found acting strangely in a park in Catford. The officers decided to restrain him, thinking he was having a serious mental health episode.
Things took a turn when he lost consciousness while being taken to an ambulance and sadly suffered a cardiac arrest. During the inquest in 2020, it was claimed that the officers lied about not hearing him say he couldn’t breathe.
After the hearing, Kevin’s family expressed their disappointment with the decision. The panel, however, said they couldn’t prove that he actually said those words. They noted that the officers didn’t react to him saying he couldn’t breathe, which they found unusual given the situation.
Superintendent Louise Sargent mentioned that the whole thing was distressing for Kevin’s family, and the panel reviewed a lot of body camera footage but couldn’t find evidence of him saying those words. It was a tough situation for everyone involved, and they emphasized that Kevin’s death was a tragedy.
This whole misconduct hearing came about after the Independent Office for Police Conduct reopened the investigation into Kevin’s death following the inquest. It’s a sad story that’s left many people feeling unsettled.
