A young father who died after he was restrained by police in east London was held face down in a headlock and pepper sprayed even as he appeared to be having a fit, a friend who was with him during the incident has said.
Claude Greenaway told the inquest into the death of Edir Da Costa, known as Edson, that he tried to fend off police who had pinned his friend face down on the ground after they discharged the spray “half a pen’s length” from Da Costa’s eyes.
Medics who tried to save Da Costa’s life that night found a plastic bag containing wraps of drugs blocking his airway. Da Costa, who was 25, was taken to hospital, where he was placed in intensive care, but he died six days later.
“I relive it every day … when I go to sleep I have nightmares about it,” Greenaway said. “I know the difference between accidents and something that was uncalled for, that there was no need for all of that.”
On the night of 15 June 2017, Greenaway was one of two others in a purple Mercedes rental car with Da Costa when police pulled them over in Beckton. He told Walthamstow coroner’s court that he had joined Da Costa and the vehicle’s driver, Jussara Gomes, so that they could take him shopping to buy drinks for his son’s birthday party.
They were on the way to Asda when they made a wrong turning into the Woodcocks estate, where they were stopped by plainclothes police in an unmarked car, Greenaway said.
Greenaway said police tackled Da Costa soon after he stepped out of the car, but that he saw no sign his friend was trying to escape. “As he [Da Costa] walked past me this way, the other one [police officer] just grabbed him and flung him literally to the floor … he’s just thrown him to the floor and I’m thinking, what’s going on?”
Da Costa appeared to begin having a fit as soon as he hit the ground, Greenaway said. “[His] legs were shaking and his hands and body were shaking and he was wriggling,” he said. But officers appeared to believe that Da Costa was resisting restraint.
“All of them were on top of him and they were big guys, as well, so their weight was on top of him and he was choking,” Greenaway said. “I saw him shaking on the floor with all the officers on top and the two of them giving him sly digs.
“My man’s a strong guy, I’ve known my friend for a long time … police don’t get him that easy … but the way he was, I could see that there was not something right because usually he would be giving a little cheek or doing something, but he was not.”
Four officers had pinned Da Costa to the floor by this point, including one who had him in a headlock “sleeper hold”, Greenaway said. Da Costa’s head was still being gripped when one officer discharged the pepper spray into his face, the court heard.
It was at this point, Greenaway said, that he ran towards the fracas and tried to push officers away. “Edson looked in my direction and flung his hand towards me and touched my hand,” Greenaway said. “It was like he was trying to tell me something. Then I saw his eyes roll into the back of his head.
“Everything around me went black and I was focusing on my friend and the officers on him. This is when I saw stuff come out of Edison’s mouth.”
Greenaway denied suggestions from John Beggs QC, acting for the Metropolitan police, that he and Da Costa had been out dealing drugs that night. He also denied suggestions from Neil Saunders QC, acting for the officers involved in the incident, that he had made up the story of trying to physically intervene after he saw the police pepper spray Da Costa.
“I had to get involved,” he said. “I know what I have done … it’s not a fabricated story.”
The inquest continues.
