Police officer tells panel man who died in custody seemed ‘out of breath’
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A Metropolitan Police officer who is accused of dishonesty over the death of a man in police custody has told a misconduct hearing panel the detainee seemed “out of breath” shortly before he lost consciousness. Pc Elizabeth McAleenan, alongside her colleague Pc Danielle Barnes, is accused of having failed to ensure the welfare of a member of the public after Kevin Clarke, a relapsing paranoid schizophrenic, died in police custody at Lewisham Hospital in 2018.
It is alleged Pc McAleenan and Pc Barnes gave evidence that “was both dishonest and lacked integrity” at an inquest into Mr Clarke’s death, which, on October 9 2020, found the decision by police to use restraints on Mr Clarke “escalated the situation to a medical emergency” and contributed to his death.
The inquest jury at the time had reviewed body-worn camera footage and found that it was “highly likely” that at least one officer heard Mr Clarke say “I can’t breathe” on more than one occasion. Both Pc McAleenan and Pc Barnes deny the allegations, saying they did not hear Mr Clarke say these words at the time.
Speaking to a misconduct panel in central London on Monday, Pc McAleenan described Mr Clarke as being “out of breath” during the incident – but insisted she had not heard him say that he was not able to breathe. She said: “He was clearly very unwell, we just wanted to get him to A&E as soon as possible.
