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Student died while in police custody
Inquest reveals how man who died after car chase was victim of a rare heart abnormality
A STUDENT who died in police custody had been living with an undetected heart abnormality which was a ticking time bomb, an inquest heard yesterday (Thursday).
Ayodeji Awogboro, 23, died from heart failure at University College Hospital London in May last year after a birth defect left him unable to cope with high levels of stress and exertion, St Pancras Coroner’s Court was told.
His heart rate and breathing had shot up on the day of his death after he was chased by police, first by car and then on foot.
They had noticed him in a traffic lane, either because he ignored a red light or because something caught their attention, according to police evidence at court. They checked out his vehicle on the police system – it showed it had a minor traffic offence outstanding linked to it – and began to follow him, from Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park to Parkside Crescent off Isledon Road. Mr Awogboro jumped out of the car and fled to a nearby park.
The court heard he resisted arrest and officers struck him three times with a baton and sprayed him with CS spray.
Following a two-day inquest into his death, jurors returned a verdict of natural causes under instruction from the coroner Dr Andrew Reid.
He said it was the only verdict open to them but they could return a narrative verdict into the wider circumstances.
They decided Islington-born Mr Awogboro, a student from Surrey Quays in south east London who went by the nickname “D”, died after he was taken to Islington police station in Tolpuddle Street in Angel, where he collapsed. He later died at UCLH.
A probe launched by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) found the force used by police did not contribute to his death.
IPCC Commissioner for London Deborah Glass added: “Officers were entitled to stop Mr Awogboro and entitled to chase him when he failed to stop. The use of batons and CS spray to effect an arrest were reasonable in this case and there is no evidence of excessive restraint once Mr Awogboro had been arrested.”
A High Court judge had earlier overturned Dr Reid’s order that the IPCC should not be present at Mr Awogboro’s post mortem.
His girlfriend Nizha Najjar – who had been in the car with him when he fled from police – told the court Mr Awogboro was scared of police and prison.
They had been returning from a weekend away together when the chase took place.
Crying as she gave evidence, she said he was “jumpy” after a police car pulled up behind them and he fled, saying “I haven’t done anything”.
Witnesses described the force used by police as reasonable, although one said they appeared to behave “unprofessionally”.
Expert witness Dr Mary Sheppard, a heart specialist at the Royal Brompton hospital in Chelsea, said Mr Awogboro died due to an underlying heart defect he had been born with. She said it can sometimes kick in after a heart has started to relax from exertion. |
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