12 May 2023 , 20:16
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Two police officers face a probe on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of a man who fell five floors after being tasered.
The dead man still has not been formally identified a month after he plunged from a balcony at his home.
Both officers have been warned that they are under criminal investigation for gross negligence manslaughter while one is also suspected of “unlawful act manslaughter”, the police watchdog said.
Locals said the man who died used a walking stick, was thought to be in his 40s and had lived alone in the council flat in Peckham, South East London for around 15 years.
He is understood to originally be from West Africa.
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IOPC director Amanda RoweSources said police believe they know his identity but have been unable to officially confirm it because they have not traced his family. One local said he appeared to have been suffering from a breakdown.
They said: “He was harmless, a very gentle and unassuming human being.”
Officers received no response when they attended the flat on Rye Hill Park shortly before midnight on April 11. They received a further report of a man making threats to jump from a balcony at 1.25am that morning.
Police forced entry to the property at around 2am and tried to persuade the man to come inside. The Independent Office for Police Conduct said an officer discharged their Taser, shortly before the man fell from the balcony railing at around 3.20am.
He died later that day in hospital.
IOPC director Amanda Rowe said: “We will examine whether force was reasonable, appropriate and proportionate in these circumstances.”