A jury has been sworn in for an inquest into the death of Olaseni Lewis, six and a half years after he died following prolonged restraint by 11 police officers at a psychiatric hospital in south London.
Lewis, 23, an IT graduate with no prior history of mental illness, collapsed at Bethlem Royal hospital 18 hours after being brought there by relatives on 31 August 2010. He never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead three days later.
The case has come to inquest after years of investigations into who should be held responsible for Lewis’s death. In 2015, following an investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, the Crown Prosecution Service determined that the officers involved had no criminal case to answer.
Last year, it was decided that no charges of corporate homicide would be brought against the South London and Maudsley NHS foundation trust, which manages Bethlem, after it was investigated by Devon and Cornwall police. A Health and Safety Executive investigation into Lewis’s death is pending the conclusion of the inquest.
Lewis’s mother, Ajibola Lewis, who was at South London coroner’s court to see the jury sworn in, said in a prepared statement: “The long road to this inquest has been nothing short of hell for our family – his parents, his sisters and his nephews.
“The multiple investigations into his death have given us few answers up to this point. We now place all our hope on this inquest for the truth about the painful and terrible circumstances in which our precious son, brother and uncle came to die.”
The inquest is expected to address how a physically healthy young man came to die within hours of his admission for urgent mental healthcare. It will ask how and why police came to be involved in responding to Lewis’s mental health situation, and why he was subjected to inherently dangerous restraint for more than 40 minutes.
Deborah Coles, the director of Inquest, which gives specialist advice in cases of deaths in state custody, said Lewis’s “deeply disturbing case” had been key in prompting an independent official review of deaths in police custody by Dame Elish Angiolini, which is due to report soon.
“The majority of police-related deaths over the past five years have involved dangerous restraint of men in mental health crisis. Police involvement in healthcare settings should be absolutely the last resort, but the reality in practice has been very different,” Coles said.
The inquest is being heard by Selena Lynch, the senior coroner for south London, and is expected to last for 10 weeks.
