from Birmingham Mail
25th November 2009
A man died in police custody in Birmingham because of the way he was restrained, a medical expert told an inquest jury.
Officers used CS gas and physical force to control father-of-three Michael Powell after he smashed windows at his mother’s home in Wilton Street, Lozells, in September 2003. He was eventually handcuffed, bundled into a van and taken to Thornhill Road police station in Handsworth where he died after suffering a cardiac arrest. It is not known if Mr Powell, 38, was forced to lie face down or on his side in the police van.
Forensic pathologist Jack Crane said a “critical” event had happened in the van which caused Mr Powell to die of positional asphyxia – a condition which occurs when someone’s position prevents them from breathing adequately.
Dr Crane, former Northern Ireland state pathologist, said: “Laying on your front with one’s hands handcuffed behind one’s back with an individual exhausted is one of the most dangerous positions an individual can be put in.
