Calls to investigate Met for misinformation over man who died after being Tasered – Family of Oladeji Omishore say police failed to correct reports he was armed with screwdriver
Calls to investigate Met for misinformation over man who died after being Tasered – Family of Oladeji Omishore say police failed to correct reports he was armed with screwdriver
5 comments
Echoes of De Menezes.
Doesn’t matter if it was a screwdriver or a firelighter. If they reasonably believed it was a screwdriver then that’s how it is treated under the law. Furthermore unlike the Guardian and their articles suggest the police didn’t kill him, he killed himself.
“died after being tasered” is a misleading headline. I saw the video on here, yes he was tasered, but then he ran away from the police and jumped off the bridge.
Unless there’s a press release from the met that isn’t mentioned in this article, the only mention of a screwdriver by the met is when they’ve said “Police were called to reports of a man holding a screwdriver”. This isn’t inaccurate. They were called by a person, who stated that the dude had a screwdriver. Whether the person that made the call was being dishonest about what they saw him holding is another matter, but the officers responding were under the impression that he was holding a screwdriver.
Unfortunately, when something major happens at an incident (Such as a man jumping the river and dying following police contact), a Post Incident Procedure (PIP) is carried out, and a lot of the time the IOPC get involved. Once the IOPC are involved, the force in question are very limited in what information they can give out. I would presume that the met hasn’t said what was found because they weren’t allowed to, on account of the IOPC investigation. This would also be why the IOPC are putting this information out to the public, as opposed to the Met.
There was likely enough justification for the use of a taser based on what I’ve seen in the video whether he was armed with fire lighter, screwdriver or absolutely nothing. Whether or not the met corrected it I dont think makes a difference to the use of force.
Taser is lower on the use of force continuum than a baton strike. Before Taser you have comms (not working as evident), physical restraint (asphyxiation risk, harm to officer risk) or incapacitant spray (does not work on everyone, risk of incapacity of officer). Those are the only options available to 99% of officers. Using a dog can risk severe injuries, firearms have the option of baton gun which dont always work and then the only other option is lethal force. There are no other miracle solutions out there.
Its obviously clear you have bias but perhaps you can tell everyone how this situation could be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone?