An inquest into the death of 29-year-old Mouayed Bashir, who died after being restrained by police, has revealed officers feared he was armed at the time. The incident occurred when Mr Bashir was at his parents’ home in Newport, and emergency services were contacted after he suffered a health episode. Gwent Police were alerted to Mr Bashir’s history with firearms, due to “warning markers” in their records. Police officer Laura Edwards testified that the warning markers led officers to believe there was a “potential risk of violence”.
PC Edwards was the first officer to arrive at the Bashir family home, where she was told by Mr Bashir’s father that his son had barricaded himself in his room and was self-harming. Knowing that there were warning markers in place, which related to drugs and firearms, PC Edwards was concerned that there could be weapons involved. She said that the decision to restrain Mr Bashir was made as he had been “very aggressive” and had kicked out at another officer. His arms were cuffed behind his back and strapped, while his legs were taped together before he was taken to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
A pathologist testified that Mr Bashir had a mixture of drugs in his system, including cocaine and diazepam, and believed that he was suffering from acute behavioural disorder due to cocaine use. PC Edwards was asked during the inquest if she associated the incident with ABD, to which she answered “no”. She also confirmed that she had taken into consideration the fact that restraining Mr Bashir could have made the situation worse.
The inquest has revealed that Mr Bashir’s history with drugs and firearms was known by the police and that warning markers were in place as part of the force’s system to identify someone previously known to the police. The case has highlighted the difficulty of dealing with individuals with a history of violence or weapons, and the need for well-trained officers to defuse situations without resorting to dangerous restraint methods
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