After being tasered, the man was asked how he was feeling and replied: “I’m dying.”
The vulnerable man was tasered almost straight away (Image: Independent Office for Police Conduct)
Two police officers escalated their response to a 92-year-old dementia patient within little more than a minute of entering his care home, potentially contributing to his death, an inquest has heard.
Donald Burgess, a one-legged wheelchair user, was tasered, struck with a baton and sprayed in the face with PAVA spray after police were called to Park Beck Residential Care Home in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, on June 21, 2022.
The officers had been called after Mr Burgess, who had dementia, refused to put down a small serrated cutlery knife after reportedly prodding a woman with it.
Jesse Nicholls, representing Mr Burgess’s family, told the hearing that officers PC Stephen Smith and PC Rachel Comotto “very quickly caused a huge escalation” after arriving at his room.
Within one minute and 14 seconds, PC Comotto had discharged her taser at Mr Burgess as he sat in his wheelchair.
Mr Nicholls said: “A substantial amount of that time is taken up by shouting and then screaming at him as he was sitting unmoving in his wheelchair. When he attempts to speak they shout over him so he can’t be heard.”
PC Smith then struck Mr Burgess with a baton and sprayed almost a full can of PAVA spray into his face, the hearing was told.
After being tasered, Mr Burgess was asked how he was feeling and replied: “I’m dying.” He was then handcuffed and arrested.
The police officers may have contributed to Burgess’ death (Image: Independent Office for Police Conduct)
His condition deteriorated and he was transferred to hospital, where he was treated for a urinary tract infection. Although he was later recommended for discharge, Park Beck Residential Care Home refused to take him back. He stayed in the hospital while staff tried to find another care home that could take him.
He subsequently contracted Covid-19 and died 22 days after the incident following a cardiac arrest. A post-mortem gave his cause of death as “bronchial pneumonia with cardiac disease”.
Mr Nicholls argued the police officers’ actions may have contributed to his death by causing “physiological stress”.
He said: “This is a case where an elderly and vulnerable man was subjected to considerable force by the police officers and would not have been in hospital if that force had not been used.”
He argued it was not “sustainable” to suggest Mr Burgess died from “natural causes” and disputed Sussex Police’s position that the timing of his death was “coincidental”.
PC Smith was later charged with two counts of actual bodily harm and PC Comotto with one count. Both officers were cleared of assault charges following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
At that trial, prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC told jurors the officers had chosen to “use force first and ask questions later”, arguing that rather than calming the situation they had inflamed it and used unjustified and unlawful force.
East Sussex Coroner Michael Spencer adjourned the hearing and will decide whether to hold a full inquest.
