How frightening are the implications of the death of Darren Cumberbatch?
Darren Cumberbatch’s sister Carla could not remember him being so upbeat. Finally, he’d passed his driving test and was at last ready to fulfil his ambition of working full-time as an electrician. On 9 July – the last day on which anyone would recognise him as a healthy young man – Cumberbatch had called at Carla’s for a celebratory Sunday lunch, then spent several hours playing with her three children, who he cherished as much as his pitbulls: Bailey, Cream and their pup, Kaiser.
At 2.30pm a friend arrived and they visited a pub in Longford, north Coventry. “He was on top form, talking about the future,” said his friend Harvi, who did not want to give his surname. Cumberbatch was the only one in the group not drinking alcohol. The Coca-Cola he ordered cost £2.40 a pint – prompting friends to grumble about London prices creeping into the east Midlands.
At 5.30pm Cumberbatch took a taxi back to his bail hostel in Nuneaton. At 11.50pm Harvi missed a call from him. Shortly after, around midnight, Cumberbatch entered the room of a friend, Luke Purser, 25, for a chat. Purser said: “He was totally fine, he came in and gave me a cigarette, he was a very gentle guy, very nice, very soft. Ten minutes later the police came.”
No one knows who made the call to Warwickshire police that would determine Cumberbatch’s fate. Police records, though, reveal that officers were contacted by someone “concerned” about his behaviour. The official version of what happened next – from the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission – states that the 32-year-old then “became unwell while the police were on the premises”.
New testimonies collected by the Observer suggest that the official version underplays the police’s role in Cumberbatch’s deterioration from the healthy and cheerful young man his friends describe to the person who would die days later in hospital having sustained a series of unexplained injuries.
Purser, from Birmingham, says that on that night a large number of officers entered McIntyre House bail hostel, where Cumberbatch had spent two months after serving a prison sentence for assault. Soon after, Cumberbatch was cornered in its downstairs toilet and seemed utterly bewildered, according to Purser. “The moment they entered they were shouting at him to get down. He wasn’t being threatening or aggressive, he was saying: ‘What have I done?’ He was scared, but they just kept shouting at him. They wouldn’t tell him what he was supposed to have done, then you could hear them Tasering him, again and again, then CS gas [spray], on and on.”
Another hostel resident Shaun Duffy, 54, said he “heard everything from start to finish, the police were on the go from the moment they entered. Shouting at him right away. They would use Taser and gas repetitively and without warning, there were no warnings. He kept asking: ‘What have I done?’”
Another witness, Vikash Shohan, 44, from Coventry, said: “You could hear the Taser noise near constantly, Darren was screaming.”
Duffy, Shohan and Purser all believe Tasers and an incapacitant gas were each used on Cumberbatch at least three times. On Friday, when questioned over the witness accounts, the IPCC confirmed for the first time it was not only investigating “police use of force” but the deployment of Tasers and the pepper spray PAVA.
Purser – who alleged that officers threatened to recall him to prison if he came any closer – also heard what he thought sounded like a beating. “I could hear the impacts,” he said, thumping his arm to mimic the sound. “Darren was going: ‘Aaargh, aargh, aaargh.’”
The IPCC’s chronology of events states that “shortly” after the police arrived, Cumberbatch was taken to a nearby hospital. Yet Duffy and Purser insist that Cumberbatch has been kept in the toilet by police for up to an hour. When eventually officers took him away, Purser watched from his upstairs bedroom window. “They were dragging him out, two officers, [holding him] each under his arms, his feet scraping along the floor. He was screaming for help, still asking: ‘What have I done?’ He looked scared.”
That was the last anybody heard of Cumberbatch for more than 65 hours. At 7pm on Wednesday, Carla received a call from Nuneaton’s George Eliot hospital revealing that her brother was an inpatient. When Carla visited him, his appearance stunned her – she said it was a “dramatic change”.
Unexplained bruises and burn marks were found across his body and feet. Neither the police nor the hospital have provided what she considers a cogent explanation for how he received such injuries.
The Rev Desmond Jaddoo, who is representing the family, said they wanted answers. “Darren’s appearance in no way reflected how he was when he left Carla’s house.
“Darren had bruising on his face, his hands, his legs, over much of his body, significant handcuff cuts into his wrists, burns on his body. There are also medical issues for which we are seeking answers.”
Cumberbatch’s condition deteriorated in the hospital and seven days after his sister was informed that he was there, he died
The alleged use of force and the fact that officers had taken him to hospital with apparent injuries, would normally warrant immediate referral to the IPCC. Yet it was 10 days after the incident that the police informed the watchdog – and only after Cumberbatch had died. The IPCC revealed last night it was investigating the “reasons for it not being referred sooner”.
Cumberbatch died at 4.25am on 19 July, one of three black men who lost their lives after contact with police in a period of eight days. All were restrained by officers, subsequently admitted to hospital and later died, apparently from related injuries.
At 2.30pm a friend arrived and they visited a pub in Longford, north Coventry. “He was on top form, talking about the future,” said his friend Harvi, who did not want to give his surname. Cumberbatch was the only one in the group not drinking alcohol. The Coca-Cola he ordered cost £2.40 a pint – prompting friends to grumble about London prices creeping into the east Midlands.
At 5.30pm Cumberbatch took a taxi back to his bail hostel in Nuneaton. At 11.50pm Harvi missed a call from him. Shortly after, around midnight, Cumberbatch entered the room of a friend, Luke Purser, 25, for a chat. Purser said: “He was totally fine, he came in and gave me a cigarette, he was a very gentle guy, very nice, very soft. Ten minutes later the police came.”
No one knows who made the call to Warwickshire police that would determine Cumberbatch’s fate. Police records, though, reveal that officers were contacted by someone “concerned” about his behaviour. The official version of what happened next – from the police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission – states that the 32-year-old then “became unwell while the police were on the premises”.
New testimonies collected by the Observer suggest that the official version underplays the police’s role in Cumberbatch’s deterioration from the healthy and cheerful young man his friends describe to the person who would die days later in hospital having sustained a series of unexplained injuries.
Purser, from Birmingham, says that on that night a large number of officers entered McIntyre House bail hostel, where Cumberbatch had spent two months after serving a prison sentence for assault. Soon after, Cumberbatch was cornered in its downstairs toilet and seemed utterly bewildered, according to Purser. “The moment they entered they were shouting at him to get down. He wasn’t being threatening or aggressive, he was saying: ‘What have I done?’ He was scared, but they just kept shouting at him. They wouldn’t tell him what he was supposed to have done, then you could hear them Tasering him, again and again, then CS gas [spray], on and on.”
Another hostel resident Shaun Duffy, 54, said he “heard everything from start to finish, the police were on the go from the moment they entered. Shouting at him right away. They would use Taser and gas repetitively and without warning, there were no warnings. He kept asking: ‘What have I done?’”
Another witness, Vikash Shohan, 44, from Coventry, said: “You could hear the Taser noise near constantly, Darren was screaming.”
Duffy, Shohan and Purser all believe Tasers and an incapacitant gas were each used on Cumberbatch at least three times. On Friday, when questioned over the witness accounts, the IPCC confirmed for the first time it was not only investigating “police use of force” but the deployment of Tasers and the pepper spray PAVA.
Purser – who alleged that officers threatened to recall him to prison if he came any closer – also heard what he thought sounded like a beating. “I could hear the impacts,” he said, thumping his arm to mimic the sound. “Darren was going: ‘Aaargh, aargh, aaargh.’”
The IPCC’s chronology of events states that “shortly” after the police arrived, Cumberbatch was taken to a nearby hospital. Yet Duffy and Purser insist that Cumberbatch has been kept in the toilet by police for up to an hour. When eventually officers took him away, Purser watched from his upstairs bedroom window. “They were dragging him out, two officers, [holding him] each under his arms, his feet scraping along the floor. He was screaming for help, still asking: ‘What have I done?’ He looked scared.”
That was the last anybody heard of Cumberbatch for more than 65 hours. At 7pm on Wednesday, Carla received a call from Nuneaton’s George Eliot hospital revealing that her brother was an inpatient. When Carla visited him, his appearance stunned her – she said it was a “dramatic change”.
Unexplained bruises and burn marks were found across his body and feet. Neither the police nor the hospital have provided what she considers a cogent explanation for how he received such injuries.
The Rev Desmond Jaddoo, who is representing the family, said they wanted answers. “Darren’s appearance in no way reflected how he was when he left Carla’s house.
“Darren had bruising on his face, his hands, his legs, over much of his body, significant handcuff cuts into his wrists, burns on his body. There are also medical issues for which we are seeking answers.”
Cumberbatch’s condition deteriorated in the hospital and seven days after his sister was informed that he was there, he died
The alleged use of force and the fact that officers had taken him to hospital with apparent injuries, would normally warrant immediate referral to the IPCC. Yet it was 10 days after the incident that the police informed the watchdog – and only after Cumberbatch had died. The IPCC revealed last night it was investigating the “reasons for it not being referred sooner”.
Cumberbatch died at 4.25am on 19 July, one of three black men who lost their lives after contact with police in a period of eight days. All were restrained by officers, subsequently admitted to hospital and later died, apparently from related injuries.
61-69, M
