Man detained by police dies

A BLACK man who collapsed shortly after being handcuffed while naked and put in a van by eight police officers has died.

Roger Sylvester, 30, had been on a life-support machine since his detention in Tottenham, north London, nine days ago. It was disclosed yesterday that he died on Monday.

His family issued a statement yesterday saying that they did not accept that Mr Sylvester's detention by the Metropolitan Police was necessarily lawful or that officers treated him with proper care.

An outside police force - Essex - has been brought in to investigate the case, which will be overseen by the Police Complaints Authority.

Mr Sylvester was detainedafter police were called to a disturbance outside a block of flats in Tottenham on 11 January. Police say that officers in three cars arrived just before 10pm and found a naked man banging on the door of a neighbour in an "aggressive and vociferous manner".

"Prior to police attending, the man had been rolling about on the floor in the garden area in an agitated state," said a Scotland Yard spokeswoman.

The man was handcuffed and detained under the Mental Health Act. He was taken in a police van to St Ann's Hospital, north London, to be assessed by a mental health practitioner. The police spokeswoman said: "While at the hospital the man suffered respiratory failure and was resuscitated." He was later taken to the Whittington Hospital, also in north London, and placed on a ventilator.

The family's statement said: "The family now awaits the outcome of the post-mortem and the police investigation of their complaint. The family does not accept Roger's detention was necessarily lawful or that he was treated with due care by the police. These and other matters require detailed and robust investigation."