Settlement reached in police-custody death of Ethan Saylor

source: Washington Post
published: 24 April 2018

The family of Robert Ethan Saylor, a man with Down syndrome who died after three off-duty Frederick County sheriff deputies forced him from a movie theater, have reached a settlement with the state of Maryland, the deputies and the management company of the shopping center where the theater is located.

The $1.9 million settlement will mark the end of a long-standing lawsuit and comes more than five years after Saylor’s death led to public outrage and a call for better training of law enforcement officials.

“There’s a cliche that you can’t assign a dollar amount to a human being’s life, but that is our system, that’s the only remedy we have for justice in our system,” Saylor’s mother, Patti Saylor, said Tuesday.

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7 May 201822 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Custody visits by members of the public failing to hold police to account

source: The Conversation
published: 30 April 2018

Custody in police stations is a very locked-down affair. People who have been arrested and are detained spend most of the time isolated in their cells. Custody visitors, the only outsiders who get to see the detainees, are neither respected by the police nor trusted by the detainees.

“My recent research has revealed serious problems in the system of monitoring police custody, now known as the Independent Custody Visiting Scheme. This scheme, run locally by Police and Crime Commissioners, enables members of the public to make random, unannounced visits to check on the welfare of the detainees in police custody” [says author, John Kendall].

23 March 201822 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Family of Sheku Bayoh slam Crown after failing to charge officers who restrained him

source: Daily Record
published: 29 January 2017

The family of a man who died in police custody have criticised the Crown Office for failing to decide whether to charge officers who restrained him. Sheku Bayoh , 31, lost consciousness after being restrained by officers in Kirkcaldy in May 2015.

But after almost three years his family have still not been told whether anyone will be prosecuted. Bayoh’s sister Kadi Johnson has demanded to know why it’s taken so long for a decision to be made on criminal charges.