The police watchdog has launched an investigation after officers Tasered a race relations champion who has worked to improve links between the force and the black community.
Judah Adunbi, 63, was Tasered by police outside his home in Bristol on Saturday when officers apparently mistook him for a wanted man.
Video recorded by a neighbour shows police scuffling with Adunbi as he tries to get though the gate of his home in the Easton area. He falls to the ground after a Taser is discharged. Adunbi said later he thought he was going to die.
Adunbi has sat on Bristol’s independent advisory group, which is designed to forge links between the police and the community, and has also worked with the Crown Prosecution Service’s local community involvement panel.
Avon and Somerset police voluntarily referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). It said the incident was also captured on the officers’ body cameras.
The neighbour’s video, obtained by ITV News, shows two police officers speaking to Adunbi on the street. He can be heard refusing to give them his name. “I’ve done no wrong,” he tells them. “Leave me alone.”
They tell him they believe him to be someone they are looking for, and there is a clash as he tries to get into the gate of his home. A Taser is then discharged and one of the officers says: “Taser, Taser, Taser. You’ve been Tasered. All right?”
Adunbi falls to the ground and the neighbour who is filming protests. One of the officers tells the neighbour: “He was trying to fight us.” The neighbour replies that they started it and he was simply trying to get into his home.
Adunbi said he feared for his life. “I felt that was it. Because of the way I fell back. The way I fell backward on the back of my head. I was just paralysed. I thought that was it. I thought they were taking my life,” he said.
Adunbi said he felt humiliated at the incident on Saturday. He said: “At first you don’t accuse someone of being someone else. You ask questions. The first thing they should have done is come to me in a polite manner. The way they approached me – they were accusing me. That is wrong.”
He added: “It’s a little distasteful in my mouth. To know that one of the founder members of the independent advisory group which was created some years ago in order to improve better relationship between the Afro-Caribbean community and the constabulary and to be treated like this, it’s difficult.”
Ch Supt Jon Reilly, of Avon and Somerset police, said: “I understand the community are going to have concerns. And we’d really like to answer those. But as there’s an ongoing investigation that’s very difficult for us to do.
“I want to reassure the community the whole incident was captured on body-worn camera. Both officers were wearing it. And we’re determined to understand what happened. That’s why we’ve referred it, voluntarily, to the Independent Police Complaints Commission for them to assess whether an independent review is necessary. We work really hard to work positively with all communities and I see no reason why that should change.”
The force says independent advisory groups (IAGs) are a way for communities to work with the police to help improve its service. They advise on policing issues that may cause concern to local people and communities.
IAG members are volunteers from various backgrounds. They have an interest in policing and its effect on our communities and offer independent advice.
[Source:- Gurdian]
