A police watchdog has asked the Met why it took an officer more than five hours to disclose they Tasered a man who fell several storeys to his death from a balcony.
The male was threatening to jump from a block of flats in Peckham, south London just before 1.30am on Wednesday, April 12.
For more than an hour, officers attempted to persuade him to come inside.
He was then Tasered and fell to the ground below suffering serious injuries, the Independent Office for Police Conduct said. He later died in hospital.
It wasn’t until some five or six hours later during a routine post-incident procedure following a death or serious injury that the officer admitted they discharged the stun gun.
IOPC investigators have told the Metropolitan Police this was “unhelpful” and are seeking answers.
No further details have been released of the man’s age or ethnicity, although one report suggests he is believed to be black. Body-worn video cameras are being studied.
Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh, in charge of policing for Lambeth and Southwark, said: “I know the community will be concerned about this tragic death and I share their concern.
“All police officers know that their actions will be scrutinised in situations such as these, and the Met is fully supporting the independent investigation by the IOPC.”
Enquiries are underway to identify the man’s next of kin. Formal identification and a post-mortem examination will be arranged in due course, the Met said.
An IOPC spokesperson said: “We have begun an independent investigation into an incident involving Metropolitan Police Service officers on Wednesday, April 12 in south east London, where a man was seriously injured and later died in hospital after falling from a balcony.
“We were advised that MPS officers attended an address in Peckham at around 2am following a report of a man threatening to jump from a balcony on a residential building.
“We have established that officers were present for over an hour and attempted to persuade the man to come inside from the balcony. The man has then been Tasered while on the balcony and he has fallen several floors to the ground.
“The man was transported to hospital with life-threatening injuries and died later the same day.
“We received a mandatory referral from the force and declared an independent investigation the next day. Our investigation is in its initial stages and we have secured officers’ body worn footage as we begin gathering evidence.”
Scotland Yard said it was unable to comment on the delay in the officer reporting the Taser use.
