Rashan Charles: Swallowed object ‘not a controlled substance’

Rashan Charles. Photograph: Twitter

An item removed from Rashan Charles’ throat “did not contain a controlled substance”, new analysis has found.

The 20-year-old died in hospital on 22 July following a police chase.

Footage later emerged on social media which appears to show an officer throwing Charles to the floor of a Dalston shop.

Last week, angry protests over his death descended into rioting amid tensions between the police and the local community. Charles’ family later appealed for “peace”.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) says its investigation into the circumstances of Charles’ death is “making good progress”.

In a statement, the watchdog said: “The IPCC has now received results of forensic analysis of an object that was removed from Rashan’s airway by paramedics. The object did not contain a controlled substance.

“IPCC staff met with Rashan’s family this afternoon (Wednesday 2 August) and updated them with this information and on the investigation’s progress.

“A post mortem took place on Monday 24 July and the IPCC is awaiting the preliminary findings from the pathologist.”

Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Pauline Pearce, who became known as the Hackney Heroine for standing up to London rioters in 2011, called for “immediate action” on use of force by police officers.

She said: “There were lots of stories swirling around almost immediately after the death of Rash about drugs and many who were quick to say that him swallowing drugs was the cause of his death.

“This was an attempt to shift all the blame onto Rash and take the focus away from the CCTV footage of the arrest which shows a shocking use of force.

“No matter what that young man may have done, he should not have been so harshly treated and should still be alive today.

“We await the preliminary findings from the post-mortem but the fact that Rash did not swallow drugs takes away a lot of the theories being thrown around about him overdosing and seems to put the focus on the force that was used to restrain him.

“Figures released recently that show that the Met is using force against a disproportionately large number of black people, over a third of all uses of force by police officers in the three months to June, shows that immediate action needs to be taken to prevent any more needless deaths.

“We welcome the open dialogue between the police, the IPCC and Rash’s family and ask that everyone respect the wishes to get justice in a peaceful way, but the police should announce an immediate review of officer training in the proportionate use of force.”

5 Comments

  1. Henry on Thursday 3 August 2017 at 19:58

    It turns out even the “drugs” he was selling were fraudulent. Selling paracetamol and caffine aint a drug crime, even when all bagged up like crack or meth. I dont think the Sale of Goods Act applies to illicit drugs. Looks as Rash believed he was selling the real stuff and died trying to swallow fake drugs. He wasnt a drug dealer, he was a wannabe dealer. Another thing he couldnt get right. Irony and pathos.



  2. Russell Shaw Higgs on Friday 4 August 2017 at 13:43

    I do wish more people would express their opinions in comments online with an identifiable and accountable name.



  3. Henry on Friday 4 August 2017 at 16:42

    Russell, your comment stung. But when people are masking themselves and kicking off and breaking windows and running off accusations of racially based murder, and when people cannot control themselves or even look at the evidence objectively then it probably best not to identify yourself when your veiws antagonise the thugs.Your views tend to be anti establishment and anti police. If this were a rational discussion, it would be different. The comment I made is none the less relevent by identifying myself or not. Fair enough, we dont know whether he was selling the baggies he swallowed or whether the police stopped him fairly, but we can be pretty sure that he swallowed the baggies in response to being challenged by the police – indicating he thought the baggie was illegal. It remains to be seen what killed him. It must be difficult to swallow a plastic bag. Mules usually use lubicated condoms, or put oil on the bag.



  4. Caz on Sunday 6 August 2017 at 02:48

    I do not believe that this was murder nor do I believe this was racially motivated. At present the cause of Rashan’s death has not been publicly confirmed but I equally believe the online video being readily available has made for concerning viewing. All police officers have a duty of care and allowing a member of the public to participate in a restraint is tantamount to negligence, especially as Joe public is not likely to be trained in safe restraint methods. In addition to this it was clear to anyone that’s viewed this video that the member of the public was allowed to continue to stay on top of Rashan long after it became clear all was not well. Pretty sure also that all police officers receive CPR training and yet there was an obvious delay in waiting for another medic trained police officer to arrive at the scene. In CPR terms this would have been a significant delay making a favourable outcome of saving life, less likely.



  5. Berto on Tuesday 8 August 2017 at 11:52

    Henry, well said!



Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.