Officers cleared in custody death

The Nassau Guardian

Officers cleared in custody death

The Coroner’s Court jury charged with looking into the police custody death of 35-year-old Jamie Smith yesterday found that his killing was lawful.

The jury also found that the force used to subdue Smith on February 8 was justifiable.

Smith died within 12 hours of his arrest at the Central Detective Unit (CDU) after he allegedly confessed to two armed robberies.

Inspector Ezra Maycock, Sergeant Keno Smith, Corporal Brian Roache and Corporal Sterling Knowles were at CDU when Smith died.

The officers said they struggled to contain Smith after he violently attacked them in a bid to escape from Maycock’s office at the CDU.

Roache, who has martial arts training, said he applied a carotid sleeper hold that was not taught at the Police Training College.

Smith began gasping for breath during the struggle and collapsed and died shortly after it ended, the jury heard. Smith died from asphyxia (lack of oxygen) caused by neck compression.

Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez summed up the case yesterday. The jury returned its findings about two hours later.

 

more info...