Police ignored pleas for ambulance, say family

Tippa Naphtali, the cousin of Mikey Powell said; “When I saw this headline about Jake’s case its first impact was how identical it was to headlines related to my cousin’s case. The more I read about Jake’s death the more I realised the striking similarity of events to those of Mikey’s.

“I am extremely saddended for the family and friends of Jake and outraged that such a sequence of events could be repeated almost blow for blow. Where are these lessons that police forces throughout the UK claim they take on after deaths in custody? Are we going to continue to allow this complacency?

“This has to stop. Family campaigners need to take matters into our hands in a manner more unprecidented than anything seen before. We need to adopt an intelligent and collaborative response working with a single vision and strategy.

“Our thoughts go out to this family and the others, both recent and previous, that have suffered this ultimate injustice”.

originally by: The Guardian
published: 30 September 2011

A family whose son died in police custody have said that arresting officers ignored their pleas to make a potentially life-saving call for an ambulance as the young man lay in the street, having been pepper-sprayed and batoned. Ann and Jake Michael, from Widnes, Cheshire, watched Jacob being restrained by 11 officers and urged police three times to call for medical help, they said during their first interview since his death on 22 August.

Some witnesses to the arrest told the Guardian that Cheshire police officers hit the 25-year-old man with batons after he was restrained with handcuffs.

Jacob was arrested 30 metres from the family home after dialling 999 from the small house in Lacey Street and hanging up without saying a word.

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