Nurse saw Sheku Bayoh carrying knife, inquiry told

The inquiry into Sheku Bayoh's death has heard from a nurse who tried to save him in hospital hours after reporting seeing him carrying a knife.

The 31-year-old died after being restrained by police officers in Kirkcaldy, Fife, in May 2015.

The inquiry also heard from three witnesses who said they saw Mr Bayoh carrying a knife on the day he died.

Their emergency calls were played to the hearing as well as dashcam and CCTV footage from the scene.

The inquiry heard how the drivers called emergency services after seeing Mr Bayoh with the knife.

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He died on 3 May 2015 after being detained by officers.

Lord Bracadale is hearing evidence in Edinburgh as part of an inquiry into his death.

Linda Limbert told the inquiry that as she was driving to work as a staff nurse at Victoria Hospital, Mr Bayoh approached her car in Hayfield Road.

She said she was "very frightened", and told Angela Grahame QC, the inquiry's senior counsel: "He was charging at my car with his arms flailing about."

Ms Limbert said she had seen him with a knife in his hand, and as he approached the car she drove off.

In nearby Hendry Road she called 999 and told the call handler: "He was trying to stop me. When I realised what he had in his hands I just drove."

Handcuffed and unresponsive

Later that morning, she was one of the medical staff who helped fight to save Mr Bayoh's life when he was sent to the resuscitation unit.

He was brought in to accident and emergency by ambulance, and Ms Limbert told the inquiry: "I don't know him, but I recognised him as the guy I had just seen."

He was handcuffed and unresponsive, she said, and had received ongoing CPR from ambulance and police crews.

Ms Limbert said the handcuffs had to be removed, but did not interfere, and she was with Mr Bayoh until he was declared dead.

She said she could not recall any injuries, but said CPR and gaining IV access could cause injuries.

The inquiry was told officers arrived on scene at 07:21 and seconds later the control room was told an officer had been punched in the back of the head.

Shortly afterwards, acting police sergeant Scott Maxwell told the control room: "Just for the log the initial attendance this male has attacked Pc Short quite violently. As a result he was sprayed with CS and Pava and battened, there maybe a suggestion he was battened to the head area."

Insp Steven Stewart, the duty officer in the area control room on the day of the incident, said the phrase "just for the log" was "police jargon".

"Just for the log is 'can you record it' on the incident, is my interpretation," he said.

Before they detained Mr Bayoh, Mr Stewart told officers to "make an initial assessment yourself and feed back," but said he never received that and in a phone call later that day described how quickly everything happened.

In another phone call at 09:25, the inquiry heard a recording discussing media questions about the incident, and how doctors were still working on reviving him but it "wasn't looking good for him just now" but to keep "quite tight-lipped about it".

Aware of stereotypes

Mr Stewart told Ms Grahame that was to make sure information on the "significant" event wasn't shared.

"It's really important that it stays within the control room or within police and not shared out informally through people," he said.

Ms Grahame asked him if it "made any difference whatsoever to the work that you were doing in the control room that Mr Bayoh was black", to which he replied: "No."

"Are you aware of certain stereotypes regarding black people, say for example we've heard in the audio he was the 'size of a house' and there maybe stereotypes that black people are bigger or more aggressive or less compliant," she asked him.

He told the inquiry he was aware of stereotypes like that, and said he ran an equality and diversity team and had received training in the area.

Earlier, the inquiry heard how Alan Pearson was driving with his wife in his car when Mr Bayoh was first seen in Templehall Avenue, in the Hayfield area of Kirkcaldy, at about 07:00.

"She [his wife] saw a man walking along the street with what appeared to be a knife in his hand," he told the inquiry.

After Mr Pearson dropped his wife off at his sister-in-law's house, he started to make his way home and in Hayfield Place saw the man look like he was trying to stop a passing taxi.

'Walking with purpose'

Mr Pearson said it looked like the man had banged on the car's roof.

"Once the taxi sped off he did what anybody would do, he turned to face the taxi and face me, although not looking at me," he said.

"When he turned around he put his hands out, palms up, that's when I saw what looked like a knife in his right hand."

Mr Pearson then turned around and drove in a different direction.

He described the knife as "maybe six or seven inches" long, but when he was shown a knife at the inquiry, he said he could not recognise the blade being used as evidence, and that he only saw it from a distance.

The witness told the inquiry he was not scared, and added: "It's not as if he was coming towards my car, he was just standing there."

Simon Rowe, a taxi driver, said he saw Mr Bayoh carrying a knife, and said he saw him from a distance of about 20m (65ft).

He told Ms Grahame Mr Bayoh was "walking with purpose".

"(He was) not strolling, (it was) like he had somewhere to be or somewhere to go, is the best way to describe it."

The inquiry is examining the immediate circumstances leading to the death of Mr Bayoh, how the police dealt with the aftermath, the following investigation, and whether race was a factor.

The inquiry, before Lord Bracadale, continues.