The family of a man who died after plunging into the River Thames during a confrontation with police who repeatedly fired a Taser at him have condemned their “cruel” three-month wait to see bodycam footage.
The police watchdog launched an investigation, which is still under way, into Oladeji Adeyemi Omishore’s death after officers were called to reports of a disturbance on Chelsea Bridge, London, on the morning of 4 June.
At first, the Metropolitan police said they were called to reports of a man “armed” with a screwdriver but they later said that it was actually a firelighter.
The family said in a statement that they had finally been given access to the bodyworn footage on Wednesday. Bystander footage showed that Omishore, 41, who lived in the area, was “vulnerable and subject to an excessive use of force”, they said.
In a statement released on Twitter, Justice for Oladeji Omishore said: “Yesterday, our family was finally given access to view the body-worn video footage of the officers that encountered our brother Deji on Chelsea Bridge. This comes more than 3 months after his death.
“There is no justification for the wait that families systematically endure to have access to this footage. It’s cruel and deprives families of clarity and closure. We’ve heard reports of cases where access has taken over 18 months! Why?!”
The family added: “From the bystander footage, we can see that Deji was vulnerable and subject to an excessive use of force. We still consider that the use of Taser was reckless, coercive, and opportunities to de-escalate the situation were gravely missed.”
The Met, they said, “still has a lot of answering to do” and questioned why the officers involved in the incident were still on active duty with no investigation into their conduct.
“Despite their actions resulting in death, the officers are still on active duty, with no investigation into their conduct,” they said. “Neither has been interviewed under caution. We are urgently calling for this to change. #justicefordeji”
Postmortem results are awaited and the cause of Omishore’s death has not yet been established.
The Met said it was a “tragic incident and our sympathies are with Mr Omishore’s family” and that the incident is the subject of an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation.
A spokesperson added: “We are co-operating fully with the IOPC’s investigation and their findings will be released in due course. The officers involved in this incident remain on full duties.
“Decisions about the status of any officer involved in an incident under investigation are kept under review.”
The IOPC said its investigation was “progressing well” and that it was “continuing to gather and analyse key evidence.”
A spokesperson added: “At this stage we have no indication that any of the officers involved may have breached police professional standards or committed a criminal offence, although we keep conduct matters constantly under review.
“We will work to complete the investigation as quickly as possible and we are committed to carrying out a thorough and robust examination of all the evidence. We continue to liaise with Mr Omishore’s family to update them on our progress.”
