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Plainsman1963

Police cleared of killing mentally ill man
11-27-2004 | Jason Bennetto | Independent.Com

The family of a black man killed while in police custody reacted with anger and frustration yesterday after a High Court judge quashed an inquest verdict that the 30-year-old had been "unlawfully killed".

The ruling follows a five-year campaign by the family and supporters of Roger Sylvester, who died after being detained by eight officers in 1999.

One relative accused Mr Justice Collins, who made the ruling, of "rewriting the inquest decision produced by a jury" and providing the police with "a get-out card".

The case of Mr Sylvester, a mentally ill man who died after going into a coma while being restrained by six of the policemen at a psychiatric hospital in Haringey, north London, has been one of the most controversial deaths in police custody in recent years. An inquest jury decided in October last year that the policemen held Mr Sylvester in a restraint position for too long and used an unreasonable amount of force.

The police evidence was that he was suffering from cannabis-induced psychiatric illness and had been naked and repeatedly throwing himself to the ground outside his home in Tottenham. The jury returned an "unlawfully killed" verdict, which prompted the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether criminal charges should be brought against the eight officers.

But a judicial review of the case, which followed an appeal by the police, quashed the verdict. The judge ruled the jury was "confused" as a result of the way the coroner at St Pancras, Dr Andrew Reid, had summed up the case. Evidence to support the unlawful killing verdict "was very tenuous", said the judge.

He said the coroner failed to direct the jury that an unlawful verdict was only possible if the holding of Mr Sylvester face down had contributed substantially to hypoxia, restriction of the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues, and that hypoxia had contributed substantially to death. The judge also said it was unlikely a jury at a criminal trial would convict the eight officers of manslaughter.

All the officers involved in the case have been reinstated and are back at work.

Following the ruling, Bernard Renwick, Mr Sylvester's brother, said: "We have followed the due legal process in this criminal justice system for almost six years and feel it is now time to opt out of this procedure." Instead of "openness, accountability and transparency" the family experienced "obstacles, delays, anguish, smoke and mirrors and 'just-ice'. Where is the justice?" He accused Mr Justice Collins of being "a single judge rewriting the inquest decision produced by a jury".

Colin Reynolds, a solicitor for the eight officers, said: "The claimants were eight straightforward and hard-working police officers that did their best to assist Mr Sylvester whilst he was suffering an overwhelming psychiatric condition. The time has now come for the dedicated campaign against them to end."

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"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards." - Claire Wolfe

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freethemind

9 times out of 10 the police will never go down for what they do .
The LEO have a lic. to kill and that goes for any country the US or the
UK or any other country on the face of the earth.
I would like to know where did they come up with the idea that Mr. Sylvester
was suffering from a cannabis induced psychiatric illness what kind of
B.S. is this. Then again the LEO can say anything they want and we are not
to talk back. It is time to rise up and speak out no more B.S.


burn it like you earned it Free the Mind

godfather

A few years ago, one of my Uncles was pulled over on his way home, he is not really an "uncle" but that is hard to explain and I am not sure I understand it, so he is probably like sixty-something. Well, he was pulled over, and I believe it was for speeding, and he probably was a little mad, and may have mouthed off a bit. I'm not sure if they even got to the "Licence and Registration" part, but I know the cop (there actually ended up being three cops there) told him to get out of the car, and when he asked why he started pulling him out of the car, while he still had his seat belt on. He kept saying his seat belt was still on, but he, or they (because there were three of them now) would not listen, and took it as he was resisting. So when he finally got his seat belt of, they drug him out of his car and beat the crap out of him with their night sticks. He had to go to the Hospital, and after a couple of days, when he was leaving actually, he started to feel sick, and after the doctors examined him, they found bleeding in his brain. He was O.K., and they won their trial against the police.