source: 4WardEverUK
published: 6 September 2018
Mikey’s cousin and prominent activist and social justice campaigner, Tippa Naphtali, has written the following moving article to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Mikey’s 2003 death in custody.
It was a lazy Sunday morning of 7th September 2003 when I received the devastating news from my sister that my cousin, Michael Lloyd Powell (known as Mikey), had died during a violent restraint by West Midlands police officers. This news was to mark the start of a 15-year journey that would have a significant impact on my life to this day.
Mikey was a hard-working and loving father of three boys, and was well-known and respected in the local community. He was experiencing a severe psychotic episode when police officers were called by my distraught aunt, Clarissa Powell.