A man gave his mother a look of “Mum, help me” seconds before he was Tasered and restrained by police, an inquest in Manchester heard on Tuesday.
Jordan Begley, 23, died in hospital two hours after being hit with the stun gun when police were called to his home in the Gorton area of Manchester in July 2013. Up to 11 police officers rushed to the scene after the slightly-built factory worker was said to have grabbed a knife.
Begley, who worked in an ice cream factory, was unarmed when he was shot with the Taser in the dining room of his mid-terrace home. Medical experts have suggested it was unlikely that the impact from the Taser had caused Begley to suffer a cardiac arrest.
This was more likely to have been caused by the restraint that followed. A number of officers attempted to handcuff him, with one of them directing two “distraction” blows to his torso to make him comply. As the young man was turned over on to his back, it became clear that he was in distress.
Officers quickly removed the handcuffs and began a medical assessment. This included the use of a trauma kit, CPR and a defibrillator. Begley’s mother, Dorothy, has told the inquest at Manchester civil courts of justice that she dialled 999 after a neighbour accused her son of stealing a handbag.
Jordan was upset over a threat to send “five lads” to his home over the alleged theft. He became agitated, grabbing a knife and threatening to go outside for a confrontation.
Mrs Begley said that when officers arrived, her son invited them in. However, within minutes she heard him telling one policeman: “I don’t care who you are. Get out of my fucking house.” She went in and out of the house twice, the second time to remove the family’s pet Staffordshire terrier.
“As I was looking through the living room door, I could see the officer stood with the Taser shining on Jordan. He was saying, ‘This is your third and final warning. Step back.’
“The Taser was shining in his eye, the light on his heart. I didn’t know they were going to use it. I had no reason to think they were going to use it. Jordan said nothing. Nothing at all. He stood there rooted to the spot.
“I never took my eyes off Jordan because I could see the fear in his face. He had his hands at his side. He had nothing in his hands. The look (he gave me) was like, ‘Mum, help me’ – and that killed me.
“There was nothing I could do. I walked out knowing he was complying with the police and doing exactly what they wanted him to do.”
Miss Anne Whyte, QC, for Greater Manchester police, put it to Mrs Begley that she was minimising her son’s behaviour “with the benefit of hindsight”.
She denied the suggestion, saying: “No, not at all.”
Whyte then reminded her of an incident, on New Year’s Eve 2011, when she dialled 999 because Begley was out of control.
Mrs Begley had told police on that occasion her son had been drinking all morning, become aggressive and had just left the house saying he wanted to hurt someone else and himself.
His mother told the 999 operator: “He’s going to take a knife. He’s going to kill people.”
On that occasion, Begley returned home without incident, after his mother advised police to stay away and therefore not antagonise him.
She acknowledged that in dialing 999 less than 18 months later she pretended to be calling a friend. Despite that, he repeatedly interrupted her and issued threats to her and his neighbours.
In one outburst, he said: “I’m going to put a fucking knife right through his face”. In another he threatened: “I’m going to rip his fucking face off”.
He warned his mother not to make him push her out of the way, then added: “If I find out you’ve phoned the police …”
Whyte told Mrs Begley: “What I am going to suggest, and I know it’s a very difficult truth for you to accept, is that by the time those sirens were audible you were at your absolute wit’s end with him.”
She replied: “I wasn’t.”
The inquest continues.
