Author: Larry Fedja

Larry Fedja

Inquests fail to restrain the police

Police Officers On Dutyfrom the Mikey Powell Campaign
9th January 2010

The following is the full unedited version of an article written by Simon Hattenstone.

Simon Hattenstone is a writer for the Guardian, and the following article has been produced on this site with his consent.

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See version published on The Guardian website >
(originally published: 27th December 2009)

Last Friday an inquest reached a shocking conclusion, though you’d be hard pressed to have heard about it. In a damning narrative verdict, the jury concluded that Mikey Powell had died from positional asphyxia following police restraint.

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Larry Fedja

Family weep as verdict returned

Clarissa Powell (Mother)from Birmingham Mail
15th December 2009

The family of a man who died in police custody wept tears of joy as they claimed that an inquest had given them “truth and justice”. The jury at the hearing found that Michael Powell died from positional asphyxia caused by lying on his front in the back of a police van.

The jury also recorded that Mr Powell, aged 38, became more vulnerable to death for one or more possible reasons. They included being hit by a moving police car, being sprayed with CS gas, being struck by a baton or being restrained on the ground while suffering a psychosis and extreme exertion.

It took the ten-man jury three days to reach an eight-to-two majority verdict. They could not agree on whether the police restraint was “reasonable in the circumstances”.

The father-of-three died on September 7, 2003, at the age of 38.

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Larry Fedja

Jury in inquest sent to consider verdict

Lawall credits: Birmingham Mail
16th December 2009

An inquest jury into death of a Birmingham dad who died in police custody was today considering its verdict. The jury retired yesterday after hearing almost six weeks of evidence in the case of Michael Powell.

The 38-year-old died after collapsing in a police cell in September 2003. Police were called to the home of his mother in Lozells, after reports that he was causing a disturbance.

The inquest has heard how the father-of-three was hit by a police car and sprayed with CS gas spray before being restrained and put into a police van.

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