- Medics ‘forced to ask police for help’ after hospital security struggle to deal with man
By
Kerry Mcqueeney
Last updated at 8:02 PM on 29th December 2011
Police watchdogs are to investigate the death of a hospital patient who died less than one hour after he was restrained by officers, it has been claimed.
The inpatient – a 57-year-old man – was found unresponsive on a ward at Wexham Park Hospital following the attendance of the police officers who were called to a disturbance.
According to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, medics had been forced to call for police help as the hospital’s own security staff struggled to deal with the man.
Disturbance: Thames Valley Police were called to Wexham Park Hospital to assist security staff involving a patient, the IPCC said
Two officers, who were already at the
hospital in Slough, Berkshire, raced to the ward and restrained the man
in the early hours of the morning.
However, he was found dead at the hospital less than an hour after the ‘disturbance’.
A post mortem examination has taken place on the dead man’s body but
the Independent Police Complaints Commission has not revealed the
findings.
A spokesman for
the IPCC said: ‘Thames Valley Police were called to assist hospital
security staff with a disturbance involving an in-patient on a ward at
Wexham Park Hospital on the December 27 at around 3am.
Assurances: IPCC Commissioner Mike Franklin (pictured) promised a thorough investigation into the incident
It
is understood that two officers, who were already on the hospital
premises, attended the scene and restrained a 57-year-old patient who
became unresponsive and died shortly after 4am.’
The IPCC were called in by Thames Valley Police and attended Wexham Park Hospital to start their own investigation.
IPCC Commissioner Mike Franklin said: ‘Initial accounts of the incident were provided by the two police officers involved.
‘Investigators
also met with members of the deceased’s family and assisted in
arranging appointments for them to be formally identify his body.
‘IPCC
family liaison managers met with the family yesterday to provide them
with support and to update them on the progress of the investigation and
I would like to extend my personal condolences to them at what must be a
very difficult time.
”I can
assure them that this independent investigation will be thorough in
determining the exact circumstances surrounding this incident.’
The dead
man has not yet been named.
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