A man who ended up in London’s River Thames after police fired a stun gun in a bid to detain him on Saturday has died in hospital, according to the Metropolitan Police.
The family of the man, who was believed to be in his early 40s, has been notified, the Met said.
The Met said it immediately referred the incident to the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which has launched an investigation.
According to the Met, officers received a report at 9:03 a.m. on Saturday that a man was armed with a screwdriver and shouting on Chelsea Bridge Road.
The force said officers arrived at the scene a short time after the call and challenged a man on Chelsea Bridge.
“A Taser was discharged but this did not enable the officers to safely detain him,” the Met said, adding that the man had “subsequently entered the river.”
“A rescue operation was immediately organised,” the Met said.
The man was pulled out of the river by the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and taken to hospital in critical condition, and he died in hospital on Saturday evening.
Frontline Policing Commander Alexis Boon offered condolences to the man’s family “for their tragic loss,” and said the Met will “cooperate fully” with the IOPC.
Steve Noonan, director of the IOPC, said on Sunday that the watchdog had reached out to the man’s family to offer its “sincere condolences” and to explain its involvement.
“Our independent investigation is underway into the police actions at the bridge and we have begun gathering and reviewing evidence,” he said.
The IOPC said it’s investigating the contact Met officers had with the man before he ended up in the River Thames.
“We were notified by the Metropolitan Police on Saturday and sent investigators to the scene and to the police post-incident procedure to begin our investigation. Initial information indicates that officers were responding to reports of a disturbance when they encountered the man on the bridge. During the incident Taser was deployed,” the watchdog said in a statement.
“Investigators have secured police body-worn video footage and initial accounts have been obtained from the officers involved. The Taser used has also been gathered and will be analysed. Investigators have overseen forensic examination of the scene.”
Detective Chief Inspector Rory Wilkinson of the Met’s Central West BCU said on Saturday: “I understand that there are always concerns about incidents in which people come to harm having been in contact with police.
“All Met officers know that they are accountable for their actions, and a full investigation is underway to establish exactly what happened.”
