Unlawful Killing Verdict on Restraint Related Death

Unlawful Killing Verdict on Restraint Related Death – “I Can’t Breathe”

On our BTEC Level 3 Restraint Trainer Award Course we cover positional asphyxia and as part of the online resource are videos of Dr. John Parkes’ research into ‘Measuring the Effects of Restraint’, taken at one of our conferences that John Parkes spoke at.

In the videos John talks about the “Breathing Talking Fallacy” which is when a restrained person says they can’t breathe but those restraining believe that if they can talk they can breathe, which sadly, as in this case, ends up with a restraint related death.

The body-cam footage in the video is shocking to say the least, especially the part where one of the restrainers says “If you struggle, I will put you to sleep”. Metrolink’s policy was that their representatives should walk away from such encounters, alerting the police if necessary, and the inquest was told that all staff had been reminded of this at the start of their shift that night.

But the four workers ignored that, which resulted in the staff chasing, catching and restraining Jack Barnes who told them on eight separate occasions that he couldn’t breathe and that he had a heart condition, both of which were not ignored.

You can read the BBC News article here – https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-56203332 and the Hull live article here – https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/hull-east-yorkshire-news/hull-dad-begs-life-after-5052372

If you’d like to receive competent training in this area by properly qualified and competent people who are the leading sector experts in their field then join us on our next BTEC Level 3 Restraint Instructor Award Course.