Man dies in police custody during disturbance at Newman Hospital in WA

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A 36-year-old man has died in custody in the remote mining town of Newman in the state’s Pilbara after a struggle with police and medical staff at the local hospital.

Transcript

00:00Police say the 36-year-old man had a medical episode on Thursday as two officers, two hospital

00:08staff and a security officer tried to sedate him during a disturbance. He'd ripped parts

00:13of the hospital's internal doors off after being voluntarily admitted under the Mental

00:18Health Act earlier in the day. During the struggle he had a medical episode, was given

00:22CPR but could not be revived.

00:25There is body-worn video of the incident and no doubt there will be CCTV of the incident.

00:32At this time the Homicide Squad and the Internal Affairs Unit have travelled to Newman to commence

00:38an investigation into the causes of the death and the circumstances of the incident.

00:43The police commissioner says he's reviewed that body-worn video. He says the man had been

00:47acting erratically in the hours leading up to his hospital admission.

00:52Police and hospital staff regularly deal with critical incidents every day. This one has

00:57ended in a tragedy and it requires a full investigation to give the family the answers that they deserve.

01:03The officers involved have been placed on three days of leave, something that is standard during

01:08this type of incident.

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