page_title: Death of Olaseni Lewis
section_title: Events leading to death
hierarchical_section_title: Death of Olaseni Lewis / Events leading to death
caption_attribution_description: Croydon University Hospital
context_page_description: Olaseni Lewis, a 23-year-old British man, died on 3 September 2010 at Bethlem Royal Hospital in London, United Kingdom, after police subjected him to prolonged physical restraint. Lewis had voluntarily sought care following the onset of acute mental health issues and died from cerebral hypoxia soon after, following actions that involved eleven officers of London's Metropolitan Police. After seven years of campaigning by Lewis' family and two inquiries by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, a second coroners' inquiry was raised.
  The inquiry ruled the restraint was disproportionate and found the officers had failed to follow training on both the restraint of people with medical conditions and treatment of non-responsive people. Bethlem was also judged to have had several failures in Lewis's assessment, treatment and care. The IPCC recommended a review of six police officers for gross misconduct in relation to the incident, but all were later cleared by the Metropolitan Police in closed hearings. South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the body managing Bethlem, received no charges, though it made changes to its internal processes as a result.
context_section_description: Following the UK summer bank holiday weekend, Lewis suffered an acute psychotic illness over a period of 48 hours in late August 2010. He returned home from an evening out on 30 August and was agitated, telling his mother that his friends had given him a bad substance. After discussion, Lewis told his mother that he would go to bed and try to sleep off the effects. He continued to be in a state of agitation the following day and his mother called NHS Direct.
  Responding to his deteriorating mental condition, his family took him to nearby Mayday University Hospital in Croydon. CCTV during his time at Mayday showed him struggling to remain still, asking for help, and hugging staff and security. Lewis's state caused accident and emergency doctors there to ask his family to agree that he be taken to a place of safety, under section 136 if the Mental Health Act 1983.
  He was transferred and admitted to a safety suite at Maudsley Hospital soon after, where he was medicated. His father Conrad and friend Omari Faria arrived during this time. That afternoon he left the hospital and walked to nearby Denmark Hill railway station. His father, Faria and hospital staff pursued him to encourage him to return to the hospital and Lewis went back to Maudsley after police were called.
  Upon returning to Maudsley, Lewis was voluntarily readmitted but managers stated that due to his home address he would have to be transferred to Bethlem Royal Hospital, a well-known psychiatric hospital in London also known as Bedlam. Ajibola Lewis reflected that a nurse at Maudsley advised her not to send her son there, saying "as a young black man in London, it’s very easy to be picked on" and a doctor suggested she treat the issue as a "one-off". Lewis was briefly discharged to his mother's care, but feeling unable to cope she then agreed that Lewis go to Bethlem on a voluntary basis.
caption: Mayday University Hospital, where Lewis was first admitted
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