|
Oluwashijibomi "Shiji" Lapite (died December 16, 1994) was a 34-year-old Nigerian asylum seeker. Married to Olamide Jones and the father of two young children he died in the back of a police van shortly after being detained by two officers from Stoke Newington police station in London, England.〔(Institute for Race Relations, Nov 2002 )〕 The inquest verdict of unlawful killing was the second in three months on a man in police custody and it triggered fresh controversy about the use of neck holds by police when controlling suspects.〔 (Independent, 26 Jan 1996, Jojo Moyes and Heather Mills )〕 It also led to an historic decision in the High Court when for the first time in England a Judicial Review required the Crown Prosecution Service to reassess their decision not to prosecute. It prompted an inspection and investigation by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, to the abolition of the Police Complaints Authority and to an inquiry by Judge Gerald Butler QC into the work of the Crown Prosecution Service. None of these momentous events, however, led to anyone standing trial for, or being disciplined for, anything relating to the death of Shiji Lapite. == Detention and death == Early in the morning of 16 December 1994 Shiji Lapite left a restaurant in Hackney, North East London where he had stopped to buy some friends a few drinks. Two plain clothes police officers, 28-year-old PC Paul Wright, and PC Andrew McCallum,〔 (Guardian, 12 Aug 2001, Martin Bright )〕 24, followed him and later claimed they saw him acting suspiciously, so they stopped him. A struggle ensued that ended, according to the officers, when Lapite had "pretended to be unconscious". When the officers realised that Lapite's condition was not a pretence he was taken to nearby Homerton Hospital where he was pronounced dead.〔〔 (Guardian, 18 Aug 2005, Simon Hattenstone )〕〔(Independent, 23 Jan 1996, Jojo Moyes )〕 Officers Wright and McCallum claimed to have seen Lapite leave something by a tree when he realised he was being followed,〔name="guardian120899">(Guardian, 12 Aug 1999, Nick Hopkins )〕 and an undercover officer claimed he found crack cocaine valued at £4,000 in the vicinity.〔(Guardian, 30 Mar 2001, Simon Hatterstone )〕 One of the officers described the 5 ft 10 in Lapite as, "the biggest, strongest, most violent black man" he had ever seen. At the inquest at St Pancras Coroners Court in January 1996, the two officers described how officer Wright held Lapite in a headlock while officer McCallum admitted that he had stood up and twice kicked Lapite in the head, "as hard as I could", claiming he was using reasonable force to subdue a violent prisoner.〔 PC Wright told the court that Lapite had attempted to strangle him, although a Home Office pathologist said that "serious doubt must be thrown on the allegation" because of the lack of marks around the officer's neck.〔 The coroner, Dr Stephen Chan,〔 found more than 40 injuries on Lapite's body, including a crushed voice box and severe bruising across his back.〔〔 The cause of death was given to be asphyxia from compression of the neck, consistent with the application of a neck hold.〔name="guardian180805" /> The only injuries suffered by the police officers were a scratch on the tip of McCallum's finger and a bite mark on Wright's shoulder where he was applying the neck hold.〔 Dr Chan noted that there was a "gross disparity" between the injuries sustained by Lapite and the two officers who had arrested him but neither officer could explain the disparity,〔 and PC McCallum said he did not believe excessive force had been used.〔 The coroner told the jury they could deliver a verdict of unlawful killing only if they were satisfied that the criminal offence of manslaughter had been committed.〔 However, they took just 20 minutes to come to a unanimous verdict that Shiji Lapite died by unlawful killing.〔 Following the inquest the Crown Prosecution Service said it would reconsider its earlier decision not to prosecute any of the officers involved in Lapite's death, and a spokesman for Scotland Yard said it would be sending a dossier to the Police Complaints Authority to see if any disciplinary action should follow and that the two officers remained suspended from duty.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Death of Oluwashijibomi Lapite」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|