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Cleveland police unlawfully killed black man

01 January 1991

Cleveland police unlawfully killed black man
artdoc February=1992

An inquest jury has found that Oliver Pryce, who was asphyxiated
after six police officers pinned him down in the back of a police
van, was unlawfully killed. Pryce was arrested, in July 1989,
after he had a nervous breakdown and threw himself at an
ambulance on the Berwick Hill Estate in Middlesborough. Following
the incident the Middlesborough Special Operations Squad arrived
and, as an eye-witness told the inquest: `Seven policemen jumped
out of the vans and pinned the black man to the ground, face-
down. One of the policemen had the man's arm coiled around his
neck and was pulling it back. The black man's mouth and eyes were
wide open ... you could tell the policeman was pulling tight.'
At Middlesborough police station a post-mortem examination
revealed that Pryce had choked to death. A representative of the
group Inquest said that `Oliver's slow and painful death shows
that the officers ... were clearly unable to cope with a black
man. We heard all the stereotypes from the police during the
inquest about drug-taking and violence. None of them were true.'
The coroner has sent the evidence to the Director of Public
prosecution, who before the inquest rejected any prosecutions,
for reconsideration. The police officers involved have been
suspended from duty.
Independent, 23.11.91, 26.11.91, 27.11.91, 30.11.91; Guardian
23.11.91, 30.11.91

Statewatch, Volume 2 no 1, January/February 1992