Panorama (1953–…): Season 69, Episode 2 - I Can't Breathe: Black and Dead in Custody - full transcript

I cannot breathe. Deep breaths.

I cannot breathe...

I think if they hadn't used
excessive force

he would still be here today.

This man died after
being restrained by police.

CHANTING: I can't breathe!

These same words were uttered
two years later by George Floyd

whose death sparked outrage
on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the UK, if you're black,
you're more than

twice as likely as a white person
to die in police custody.

Relax and you won't get hurt.



This has got to stop.

He's not alive today
because of the colour of his skin.

Panorama investigates unanswered
questions in two British deaths...

..and, in one, reveals
new allegations of police cover-up.

What you're saying is that
those accounts are false?

Yes.

This is Kevin Clarke. He suffers
episodes of mental ill health.

Can I feel your hand?

Police officers have come
to help him.

In a little over two hours,
he will be dead.

ARCHIVE: A man has died after
being restrained by police

in South East London.

Officers say they were called
to Lewisham on Friday afternoon,

where they found the 35-year-old
in an agitated state.



I never met anyone like Kevin.

He was a unique person.

He was everything to us.

They took away my...my diamond.

Kevin Clarke loved football.

He was athletic.

And he was close
to his friends and family.

He was literally
like a father figure,

he was so caring
and took care of us,

anything we wanted and needed.

And he's a big, big piece of my life
that's just been taken away.

Kevin was diagnosed with paranoid
schizophrenia as a teenager.

At the time of his death, he'd been
living in supported accommodation.

He managed himself.
He did everything just normal.

It was only when
he had a breakdown,

then you just noticed
a change in his demeanour.

More than two years after Kevin's
death, an inquest began in London.

In court, his family watched his

final hours play out in real time.

I'm a police officer.

We've had a call from where
you're living at the moment.

The inquest heard
Kevin's support team called police,

fearing he was beginning to relapse.

Is there any reason that
you're standing out in the street?

The officer decided he wasn't
a threat to himself or anyone else.

I'm not going to stop you
from chillin' on the street.

Not long after Kevin's last
seen at his supported accommodation,

he finds his way to
this street here.

By this time, he's disorientated.

He's in the full grip
of a psychotic episode.

And it's through the gaps
between these houses

that he finds his way into
the school playing fields.

I saw him walking...

Marco Piccioni saw
what happened next from his garden.

I can clearly remember...

This is probably
the thing I remember the best,

is that he was in a bad state,

you know, someone needing help.

Did he appear violent or aggressive
or anything like that?

Not at all. He's just someone
that is really mentally

in a big crisis, I guess.

Yeah. That was obvious.

All right, mate, just down there.
Just through there.

By the time police arrive,
Kevin is clearly in trouble.

You all right, mate? Hello.

Drunk, I think.
All right. Stay there, mate.

You all right? Yeah.

OK. Take a breath, take a breath,
just stay there.

Realising he's having
a mental health episode,

they call an ambulance.

The whole incident is being
captured on multiple cameras

worn by the attending officers.

Panorama asked a leading expert
in the use of restraint

and police tactics to
analyse the footage.

Here, Kevin takes
an officer's hand.

She told the inquest jury
she thought

he had demonstrated "extraordinary
strength" and had broken her hand.

Roll over a minute, mate.

She's going to look
at your bus pass, all right?

It's hurting.
You're hurting my hand. Easy, easy.

To suggest, from what we've just
seen there that he was hurting

the officer's hand,
is frankly nonsense.

What does it look like he's doing?

It looks like he's reaching out
for help. And as soon as she says

that "you're hurting my hand,"

he takes his hand away.

Professor Leslie Thomas QC

represented Kevin Clarke's
family at the inquest.

He specialises in cases like these.

He wasn't a threat to anybody. And
actually, when you watch the bodycam

footage very carefully, you see

that one of the officers actually

puts her hand on her Taser.

As if she's ready to use it.

And when you stop and ask yourself

what was the behaviour
that Kevin had done to merit

immediately being surrounded,
all the officers stepping in,

is he just got to his knees.

Easy, mate. Easy.
Nice and easy, mate.

We're just here to help.

This is when the fateful decision
to restrain Kevin is taken.

It's as if without talking about it,
they all have the same mind-set,

that this is somebody
who needs to be restrained.

Easy. Easy, mate. Nice and easy.

Nice and easy. That's it.
And that one. That's it.

That's it. That's it.

And what's that mind-set
based on?

Fear, perhaps?
Fear of what they see.

What do they see?
A big, black man.

Fear.

The man is now in handcuffs.
He's become quite aggressive to us.

They need to hurry up.

Has anyone got any leg restraints
they can bring down, please?

The officer has told control that

he's become quite aggressive towards
them. Well, it's simply not true.

He's not being aggressive at all,

and he's not capable of
being aggressive towards them.

The suggestion of leg restraints,
what on earth for?

There is absolutely no justification
at all for restraining him.

And what they've done is just
totally wrong and dangerous.

So why did it happen?

Bas Javid is a commander
in the Metropolitan Police.

Which element of Kevin's behaviour
made it appropriate to restrain him?

It's a fair question.

So I think that there was evidence
and, you know,

the circumstances at the time,

that he was in a position that

he may well have harmed himself
or other people.

That was what
the officers' findings were.

Now, I'm not saying
that's right or wrong.

What I'm asking you about,
specifically, is

whether you think the restraint in
those circumstances was appropriate?

Yes or no? Look, clearly it wasn't.

Clearly the restraint
wasn't appropriate, no.

Black people are three times more
likely to have force used on them

than their white counterparts.

How do you explain that?

I explain it by accepting that

that's disproportionate,

that it's not right. We need to
understand the reasons why.

Is there racial discrimination
and bias and prejudice

within an organisation?

Absolutely. That's
a reflection of society. In yours?

Yes, there is. Yeah.

Four minutes into the restraint,

and up to six officers are
holding Kevin on the ground.

I can't... Listen, listen.

And what he says is, "I can't
breathe. You're killing me."

Several times.

Breathe. Breathe. I cannot breathe.

I cannot breathe... Deep breaths.

Eight minutes later,

police and paramedics discuss
how to get Kevin to the ambulance.

They seem to lack urgency

and fail to carry out
a proper assessment of him.

15 minutes into the restraint,

they decide to try
and walk him to the ambulance.

Then, an officer draws Kevin's hood
over his head

and uses it to pull him along.

Come on, walk for us, Kevin.

What was your reaction to that?

I was disgusted.

They were meant to be checking
his breathing and his vital signs -

how can you do that
with the hood over the head

if he is meant to be...

..the patient?

So, not as a lawyer, not as a QC,
not as a professor,

just as another human being,
I was disgusted.

He is forced to walk,

though he's still bound
at the knees.

MAN GROANS

He's gone down,
he's gone down. Hold on.

Check his pulse.
Sit him up, sit him up.

Doubled over, still cuffed behind
his back, his breathing is impaired.

He's been restrained for 19 minutes.

Now, barely conscious,
he is in fact dying.

A year before Kevin died,

a review of deaths in custody
in England and Wales

highlighted concerns around
police stereotyping black people

because of their perceived size
or strength.

The evidence that we had
was that many officers

don't have very much to do
with black communities,

other than when they're policing.

Many of them described them,
in their statements

that they prepared afterwards,

as being this huge man
with superhuman strength, etc,

and I don't challenge that that's
what they believed at that time,

or that was their perception,

but the reality was
very, very different.

They were just black? Yes.

If you're black in the UK,

you're more than twice as likely
as a white person

to die in or following
police custody.

Kevin Clarke is one
of at least 27 black men

to die in such circumstances
in the past 15 years.

Relax and you won't get hurt.

Some were suffering
from mental breakdowns

or altered behaviour at the time...

..including one man in Scotland.

NEWSREADER: The family of a man
who died in police custody in Fife

are demanding answers
about what happened to him.

Sheku Bayoh was detained
after an incident in Kirkcaldy.

He was fine,
I saw him the day before.

I couldn't believe
that Sheku is no more

and my whole life changed.

My whole life changed.

Yeah, I brought these flowers.

These are the flowers
we brought for his birthday.

SHE PRAYS

We haven't got closure yet
because we don't know the truth.

We just wanted to know
how my brother died and why.

Sheku Bayoh had moved to Kirkcaldy
in Fife in 2000

to join his sister Kadi.

He worked as a trainee gas engineer.

He had a partner
and was father to two boys.

He really lived for his boys,
he was overprotective of his boys.

They will never get to see
fatherly love from Sheku.

Through the night of May 2nd, 2015,

Sheku Bayoh had been
at a friend's house.

He'd taken drugs, MDMA
and a hallucinogenic called flakka.

Friends said it dramatically
altered his behaviour

and he'd become aggressive.

He then made his way home
to his own house

when he picked up a knife.

Within a few minutes,
he's on this street here -

this is Hayfield Road,

and it's 7am, it's a Sunday morning,
and the place is deserted.

He's behaving erratically,
so he's spotted by local residents

who assumed that
he's high on drink or drugs

and they phone the police.

They tell police they've seen a man
on the street with a knife.

CCTV footage shows
the first police arriving.

Bayoh no longer has a knife,

a fact confirmed
by statements taken later.

The officers use force
almost immediately,

discharging their CS sprays
and drawing batons.

Bayoh is brought to the ground
within 45 seconds.

A witness sees up to six officers

kneeling or lying across
Sheku Bayoh.

She hears him scream, "Get off me."

By the time they do get off,
it's too late, he's unconscious.

The officers begin CPR.

It's less than five minutes
since the police first arrived

and Sheku Bayoh is dying
here on the street

with his legs and his arms bound.

Sheku Bayoh's cause of death
would later be given as

"sudden death of a man intoxicated
with drugs whilst being restrained".

A postmortem report
revealed 23 separate injuries,

including a broken rib
and deep cuts to his head.

They've got information that

he may be going through a crisis,

he may be intoxicated.

They could have contained
that situation for longer

to try and really exhaust
every possible effort

in trying to bring it to an end
without using force,

and particularly
the high-level force that they used.

The officers initially refused to
provide statements to investigators.

Instead, 11 days after his death,
the Scottish Police Federation,

which represents rank and file
officers, spoke for them.

It said Bayoh had violently attacked
a female officer, Nicole Short.

The Police Federation gave out
a statement which said

a petite female police officer
was chased

and subjected to a violent
and unprovoked attack

by a very large male.

She was punched,
kicked and stamped on.

The officer believed
she was about to be murdered -

but for the intervention of other
officers, that was a likely outcome.

The allegation Bayoh had kicked
and stamped on PC Short

received prominent coverage.

When a black person dies
in police custody,

one of the first things
that often happens is

there is a leak to the media

that police officers believed
there was a threat to their life,

that police officers
had no other option.

But unknown to the public
and the media,

there was another civilian witness
that day

and he'd given a statement

to the body which investigates
deaths in custody in Scotland,

known as PIRC.

Identified in the case files
as Witness R,

Kevin Nelson has never spoken
publicly before.

So what did you see?

He was just walking, as if

there was nobody there,

like you would walk along
any street.

He was just walking.

It was like he was unaware
that there was other people there

or purposely ignoring them.

Just walking.

Kevin was watching
from inside a nearby house

on this side of Hayfield Road.

He says he then saw
Bayoh being sprayed.

Bayoh retaliated

and punched Nicole Short,
who went down.

Was there any other contact
with Bayoh and that officer?

No.

No. He was running off.

Kevin says he saw the events unfold
over a garden hedge

and had Bayoh's upper body
in his sights.

You saw Bayoh 100% of the time

during his altercation
with Nicole Short?

Yes.

And just explain again what you saw.

I seen him swinging punches
towards her.

And then what?

Then he ran off
or attempted to run off.

Kevin's account is supported
by the CCTV.

The footage is grainy

but we are able to identify
the two key points of the incident.

We can see Nicole Short
knocked down here

and the action appears to
immediately move away

and within five seconds, Sheku Bayoh
is brought down and restrained here.

When the officers eventually
provided statements to PIRC

investigators, 21 days after the
Federation first spoke to the media,

two of them described a violent
stamping attack on Nicole Short.

Those officers were
known as Officers B and C.

They are PCs Craig Walker
and Ashley Tomlinson.

Both describe, in very clear detail,

Sheku Bayoh viciously stamping
on Nicole Short.

Did that happen?

No. No.

You're sure? Yeah.

I don't think
he would've had time to stamp at...

There was...
After the punch, that was it.

There was no more
attack on her at all.

Officer B -
"I had a clear view of him

"and saw him with his right leg
in a high, raised position.

"He had his arms raised up
at right angles to his body

"and brought his right foot down
in a full force stamp

"onto her lower back."
And you say that didn't happen?

That never happened.

I didn't see him stamping at all

or, other than the punch,
any raised arms.

Officer C - Ashley Tomlinson - says,
"I thought he had killed her."

"He stomped on her back again."

No.

What you're saying is that
those accounts are false?

Yes.

Nicole Short, now retired,

later said she was unsure
she was conscious and only heard

she was stamped on when
her colleagues told her afterwards.

The CCTV appears to show
her getting back to her feet

a few seconds after
being struck by Sheku Bayoh.

Mike Franklin is a former
commissioner with the body

that investigates police
complaints in England and Wales.

We showed him our evidence.

I think there's nothing more
serious than a police officer

who gives false information
in an investigation where somebody

has died.
So, without accusing them of lying,

I simply say that there's
a big conflict in their evidence.

Two officers who were there
say that it did happen.

The person to whom it happened
didn't mention it,

and an eyewitness says
it didn't happen.

Kevin Nelson gave his account
to investigators

two days after the incident.

That's 30 days before the officers.

Given what the officers said
about this vicious stamping attack,

are you surprised that nobody came
back... Yes. ..to check with you

whether that had happened?
Yep, not one person. Nobody.

If you were met with this
sort of contradiction in evidence,

what would you have done?

I would've been reluctant to sign
off the investigation as complete

without resolving those
two conflicts of evidence.

Why are you doing this interview?

Their statements made me out to
be lying, which is not fair on me,

and it's not fair
on Sheku and his family

that they've made the incident
worse than it actually was

to justify what had happened, and
that's, that's...that's not right.

'What you're saying is that
those accounts are false?' 'Yes.'

We showed Kadi the new allegations.

It's making me really angry.

Because five years ago,
the way they painted Sheku to be,

that's not who he was.
And now, it's out there now.

In 2018, the Crown Office in
Scotland - ultimately in charge

of the PIRC investigation - said no
officer would face criminal charges.

None has faced
misconduct charges either.

But the questions
in this case persist,

and a full public inquiry
is now under way.

Police Scotland said

it has expressed condolences
to the Bayoh family,

that the force would participate
fully in the inquiry,

whose independence
should be respected

so that justice could be served.

The Crown Office said it examined
eyewitness accounts of police and

civilian witnesses, and instructed
appropriate investigation.

After careful consideration,
it was decided there should be no

prosecutions but it reserves
the right to prosecute

should evidence become available.

PIRC told us its investigation
was detailed and extensive,

and said, as the public
inquiry has now started,

it would be inappropriate
to comment on any specific aspect.

The Scottish Police Federation
told us,

"Serving police officers
cannot comment publicly on matters

"to which they may be called upon
to give sworn evidence",

its members "co-operated fully and
truthfully with the investigations

"that have taken place"

and it has seen
"compelling material"

that Mr Bayoh "did violently stamp
on the back" of Nicole Short

as she lay unconscious.

When asked to share this material,
the Federation told us

the inquiry was the proper forum
for such matters.

Deborah Coles of the charity Inquest

provided support to both Sheku Bayoh
and Kevin Clarke's families,

and believes race was
a factor in each of their deaths.

I think in both cases,
there have been attempts to

justify what happened

by virtue of the extraordinary
strength and dangerousness

and potential to violence
of the two men concerned.

And that, to me, speaks about how

racial stereotyping that
equates black men with dangerousness

and violence has seeped into
police culture and practice.

Back in South London, as they
waited for the inquest's verdict,

Wendy and Tellecia visited
a mural commemorating Kevin.

I think if they hadn't used
excessive force,

he would still be here today.

Like, treat him like a human being

and not just see him
as a big, scary black man.

Hearing from the officers,
what's shocked me the most

is that a lot of them have said
if the situation was to arise again,

they would do exactly
the same thing.

And, to me, that's like
no lessons have been learnt.

After five days of deliberations,

the jury delivered a damning
narrative verdict, deeply critical

of the police
and the ambulance service.

The restraint and making him
walk whilst barely conscious

had contributed to Kevin's death.

The Metropolitan Police
accepted the jury's findings

and apologised to Kevin's family.

In his memory we want to see
accountability...

..and real change, not just
in training but the perception

and response to black people
by the police and other services.

The jury was not asked to consider

if race played
a part in Kevin's death.

I didn't need to spell out to
the jury that race was a factor.

To my mind,
race was the elephant in the room.

Sometimes you don't need
to spell out the obvious.

There's no evidence to suggest
in this case,

certainly not that I've seen,

that race or any concern that has
been raised from anywhere outside

of the family environment...

Now, that doesn't mean to say
that racial stereotyping

or concerns around that
weren't necessarily a factor.

I don't know.

But what I can say is that,
individually, the officers at

the time have to make an assessment
on what they're faced with.

Are you OK?

The family of Kevin Clarke believe

he was treated differently
by police because he was black.

The public inquiry into
the death of Sheku Bayoh

is expected to last several years.

It will investigate whether
his race was a factor in his death.

It's got to stop.

This has to stop.

I am weary.

I've done too many of these cases.

The same questions, the same
responses that I was getting

20, 25 years ago.

This has got to stop.