RedHanded - #3 BLM - Darren Cumberbatch

Episode Date: September 8, 2020

This month in our Black Lives Matter series, we discuss the death of Darren Cumberbatch. Darren was a quick-witted and friendly electrician who was punched, kicked, pepper-sprayed, and tased by British Police while suffering from Acute Behavioral Disturbance in the toilet of a bail hostel in Nuneaton. This is Darren’s story.  The Justice4Daz campaign Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/Justice4Daz/   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Harvard is the oldest and richest university in America. But when a social media-fueled fight over Harvard and its new president broke out last fall, that was no protection. Claudine Gay is now gone. We've exposed the DEI regime, and there's much more to come. This is The Harvard Plan, a special series from the Boston Globe and WNYC's On the Media. To listen, subscribe to On the Media wherever you get your podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart.

But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. When TV producer Roy Radin was found dead in a canyon near L.A. in 1983, there were many questions surrounding his death. The last person seen with him was Lainey Jacobs, a seductive cocaine dealer who desperately wanted to be part of the Hollywood elite. Together, they were trying to break into the movie industry. But things took a dark turn when a million dollars worth of cocaine and cash went missing. From Wondery comes a new season of the hit show Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you

get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of The Cotton Club Murder early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to Red Handed early and ad-free. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. They say Hollywood is where dreams are made, a seductive city where many flock to get rich, be adored, and capture America's heart. But when the spotlight turns off, fame, fortune, and lives can disappear in an instant. Follow Hollywood and Crime, The Cotton Club Murder on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome to our third installment of our Black Lives Matter series. We will be doing these every month for the rest of 2020

because it's important and we should not just forget about it because our Twitter feeds are clear. So we've got a UK one for you this time because it does happen here too, contrary to popular belief. So some of you, if not all of you, might have heard the anecdotal evidence that you're much more likely to be arrested in the UK if you are black. In fact, in metropolitan areas like London and Manchester

that have a high police presence, it's a bit of a running joke that you don't really need to worry about the police unless you are black. And while these statements are sickening and tasteless, it turns out that they're also true. And if there's anything that our government love, it's to compile a report. Because it takes up loads of time, and by the time it's out,

no one cares anymore. But multiple reports published on this particular topic have proven the fact that black people are disproportionately targeted by police. So let's consider a paper by the Ministry of Justice published in 2016 called Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Proportionality in the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales. This report showed that black women and women of mixed ethnicity were twice as likely to be arrested by the police in England and Wales. On top of this, young black and adult men were around three times more likely to be arrested compared to their white counterparts. Another report in 2017 commissioned by our former PM David Cameron and carried out by David Lammy, a black MP and also my MP, and

I love him. This report found in the UK, the colour of your skin has a measurable impact on how you are treated at every single stage of our justice system. And Nazir Afzal summed it up in an article that he wrote for The Guardian this year. Here's what he said, quote, people from black, Asian and other ethnic minority communities are absolutely victim of a system that disproportionately suspects, arrests, charges, remands, convicts and imprisons them. And Nizir Afzal, for those of you who don't know, is a former chief crime prosecutor for the North East here in the UK. The sentencing data that LAMI analysed for this report showed that BAME defendants

were more likely to receive prison sentences for drug offences even when you adjust for previous convictions. And I don't know if BAME is a term that is used everywhere. It is used very, very much so here in the UK. Those of you who don't know, it is what we've been referring to. So BAME stands for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. And so since LAMI released this report in 2017, not much has changed. Because in January 2020, research by the Sentencing Council showed that, specifically when we look at drugs cases, if you are from a minority, the odds go up that you are searched, arrested, remanded and convicted up to 40 to 50%. That is a remarkable statistic. Essentially, these reports prove that if a BAME man and a white man with the same criminal history, because remember,

we're saying they're adjusting for previous convictions and things like that. So they've got the same criminal history. They're facing the same charges. The case has been brought forward with the same level of evidence. The BAME man will be far, far, far more likely to be stopped, to be arrested, to be charged, to be denied bail, to be convicted, and to be sentenced to prison. So this is the point at every single stage of the entire process. A BAME man, and specifically a black man, is far more likely to not have the case dropped. But it only gets worse, because of those arrested in the UK, black people are also significantly far more likely to receive poor and even dangerous care. Because despite making up only three percent of the population here in the UK

black people make up for eight percent of deaths in police custody I mean what the fuck is happening one of those people who died while under the quote protection of the police was Darren Cumberbatch and it's very important to point out that while you are under arrest, you are supposed to be safe and protected. That is the law. Darren was black. He was a qualified electrician. He was quick-witted and would help anyone who needed it. However, it seems there was nobody to help him when he was at his lowest. Darren served a prison sentence and was released on the 30th of May 2017. And despite extensive research, we couldn't find out what this prison sentence was for, which would suggest that it wasn't particularly serious.

However, things were looking up for Darren. He had a trade and that gave him a good chance of employment upon his release. And he'd found somewhere to stay at the McIntyre House Bail Hostel in Nuneaton. A bail hostel is a government-run household slash hostel for ex-offenders, sort of like a halfway house, and offenders stay in there after their release from prison. These hostels provide a structured routine, a curfew and aim to give aftercare to prisoners. However, people who do live in these hostels quite often are not well received by the communities that they are based in. So despite things looking good for Darren's rehabilitation into day-to-day life,

there were concerns around his mental health. He was known to suffer from anxiety and depression, neither of which were presumably helped by his stay in prison. And neither of which are particularly rare. It's one in four people. Exactly. Like you said, it's not rare in the outside world. And in prisons, it is even more of an issue because mental health issues are absolutely rife in the UK prison system, just as they are in any prison system in the world.

And here in the UK, though, the Prison Reform Trust states that you are over eight times more likely to die from self-inflicted injuries than someone living outside of prison. So just take that level of sort of self-harm or suicidal ideation that happens once people enter prison. That is, again, another remarkable statistic in today's story. And on top of this, between 2016 and 2017, 40% of prisons in the UK had been given little to no training on how to deal with mental health. So let's just consider that. You are eight times more likely as a prisoner to die from self-inflicted injuries in prison. Mental health is rife, but almost half of prisons in the UK haven't received any training on how to cope with mental health. I don't really know what to say about that. So it's not exactly

hard to imagine that Darren came out of the UK prison system probably a little bit more anxious and more depressed than when he'd gone in. On the 10th of July 2017, at around 12.23, the staff at McIntyre House phoned Warwickshire Police saying that Darren wasn't okay. He was acting erratically and appeared paranoid, even afraid. Given the close relationship between Bale Hostels and the police, we can assume that they arrived fairly quickly. And when the police did, Darren locked himself in a small toilet cubicle, which, to be fair, if you weren't feeling fantastic and in a state of panic and then suddenly the police arrive at the place that you live, toilet cubicles are pretty safe, but the police who arrived at the scene admitted in court that they didn't plan on what they would

do when they arrived at the hostel. They had no plan when they went in to get Darren from the cubicle, and it showed. PC Stephen Jones, an officer at the scene, said it was clear to him from the moment he got there that Darren was much more physically strong than he was. However, he also admitted in court that he had considered Darren was suffering from acute behavioural disturbance, or ABD. So ABD is an umbrella term used to cover various states of physical and mental illness surrounding the use and withdrawal of drugs, as well as many other contributing factors.

So ABD is one of those things, perhaps that we've all seen, but never really known the name for. Perhaps you see someone on the street, maybe after a night out, and perhaps they look wide eyed and they seem like perhaps they're delirious or maybe even hallucinating. ABD is probably what they're suffering from. It's a scary condition for anyone to be in, and I think anyone who's been around it will agree that people suffering from ABD look like they need some serious physical and mental medical attention. However, the attention Darren received wasn't really what anyone would expect.

Allegedly, the officers who responded to the call made an effort to calm Darren down, but this wasn't before they called for seven more officers to arrive with tasers. Seven officers for one man. Obviously, none of us at Red Handed HQ or Red Handed Towers are experts, but it feels like if you've got someone who looks anxious, distressed and could possibly be having quite a bad trip

stuck in a toilet, it seems like the best thing to do is probably give them some space and try and talk them down until they tire out. How many times has someone at a festival taken too many drugs, locked themselves in a port-a-loo and lost it? So many. Eight people with tasers don't turn up and fucking restrain them for hours on end. So the officers, who outnumbered him at least seven to one, opened the door to the cubicle. And when Darren resisted arrest, despite being in such a state of delirium, he never would have been able to understand the concept of arrest,

they tased him three times, sprayed him with parva spray, which is essentially a posh pepper spray, and punched and stamped on him over 15 times until he submitted. And we have to remember that this man is showing clear signs of hallucination, panic, fear and delirium. He's locked himself in a toilet to feel safe and was then bundled by seven men who kicked him, punched him, pepper sprayed him and tased him into submission. Yet again, we are not experts. And there are some reports out there that say that Darren had pulled a handrail off the toilet and he was using this as some sort of like rudimentary weapon against the police. But even if that is true, it's like we spoke about in the

George Floyd episode that we did a couple of months ago. The power dynamic that exists between police and the people that are being policed. Somebody attacking does not give the police or should not give the police free reign to attack with equal force. I'm not saying being a police officer isn't a dangerous job. I'm saying that it is a job that has been chosen and it's just the lack of compassion here that's being shown to someone clearly having a severe mental health crisis and potentially some sort of psychotic episode is just stunning. On top of that it is hard to believe that Darren would have been treated this way if he was a white man stuck in a toilet having a crisis.

As we said at the start of the episode, if that were the case, why would black people be dying so disproportionately at the hands of police in custody? So while Darren was beaten up in a toilet, the police told the hostel staff that they needed to call for an ambulance. But despite admitting in court that they had recognised Darren experiencing ABD, or at least delirium, the officers didn't ask for that information to be relayed to the ambulance team. Once the police officers had restrained Darren, he was taken in a police van, notably not an ambulance, to the car park of the George Elliot Hospital in Nuneaton, where he was then further restrained by four officers, despite already being handcuffed. After these officers had restrained his thighs and ankles,

he was taken into A&E. By the time he entered the emergency department, his temperature was dangerously high, he was hyperventilating, his heart rate and temperature were skyrocketing. And I can't imagine how panicked he must have felt. So once in hospital Darren informed the staff that he had taken half a gram of cocaine and cannabis. He begged for help and

for his handcuffs to be loosened but despite this he was left mechanically restrained for over an hour. After eventually receiving the medical attention and compassion he desperately needed, Darren did start to calm down and show some signs of recovery. But tragically, as a result of his injuries and state of high stress, he suffered from multiple organ failure. And Darren Cumberbatch died nine days later in hospital on the 19th of July 2017. And I think the point here is, yes, he had taken illegal drugs. Yes, he was having an episode. He probably was perceived to be an aggressive person. The point is he died of his injuries inflicted upon him by eight police officers. That's the point. You know, since when

is taking drugs a death sentence? It's not. This is the thing, because they tried to say the same thing with George Floyd and say, oh, well, he was on meth and all of this. But it's like, you cannot attack somebody, restrain them for hours and then say, well, if anybody takes those drugs, they're going to die. As if these people are just walking around waiting for that to happen. This is as a direct consequence of your actions. This seemed disproportionate given what was happening here. And it's not the restraining that's the issue. I don't think it's the stamping. Yeah, the punching and the stamping. My issue with the restraining is the restraining by multiple other men.

When you're already handcuffed, you've already been disarmed. He's not a threat to you anymore. You've tied his legs together and he's been handcuffed. He's not even going to be able to run away. Why are people still holding him down? Between the 28th of May and the 25th of June 2019, a jury heard evidence surrounding Darren's death and concluded that the police restraint had contributed to Darren's death.

They also concluded the force used in Darren's arrest was, quote, probably avoidable and more could have been done to de-escalate the situation. The officers involved in the case admitted in court to punching Darren over 15 times during his arrest, and they had little to no plan when they entered the situation. Despite all of this, nobody has been charged in connection with the incident. And as far as we can tell, no disciplinary action whatsoever has been taken against the officers who killed Darren Cumberbatch. So the report from 2017 that we mentioned at the start of the show called for urgent reform.

But so far, no such reform has taken place. So anyone who was surprised to see people here in the UK also take to the streets following the murder of George Floyd, remember that Darren's story is just one of many. And we here in the UK still need to wake up to the Black Lives Matter movement just as much as our friends across the pond. So if you would like to support Darren's family there is a Facebook page that we have linked below which aims to seek justice for Darren

and many others like him who have died while under the protection of our police. That's what it comes back to I I think, that once you're arrested, it's the police's job to keep you safe. And quite clearly, they did not do that here. Yes, and it is an incredible rarity here in the UK, just as it is in other countries and in the US, as we've discussed, for police to be prosecuted if people die at their hands in police custody.

So we'll leave some articles and some interesting sources we found as well as where you can support Darren's family, as we said in the episode description below. So take a look at those. And there are a plethora of other cases exactly like Darren's here in the UK, which again, we'll link below. So have a look. Like we said, gosh, I can't even remember in which episode, some episode, no country is in a position to be patting itself on the back for the way in which it deals with racial issues. We've all just got a hell of a lot of learning to do. That is our third installment of our Black Lives Matter episodes. As we said, we'll be doing an episode like this every month for the rest of 2020.

Keep learning, keep reading. Yeah, exactly. We'll see you guys in the next episode, whatever that may be. See you then. Goodbye. He was hip-hop's biggest mogul, the man who redefined fame, fortune,

and the music industry. The first male rapper to be honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Sean Diddy Combs. Diddy built an empire and lived a life most people only dream about. Everybody know ain't no party like a Diddy party, so. Yeah, that's what's up. But just as quickly as his empire rose, it came crashing down. Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment

charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution. I was f***ed up. I hit rock bottom. But I made no excuses. I'm disgusted. I'm so sorry. Until you're wearing an orange jumpsuit, it's not real. Now it's real. From his meteoric rise to his shocking fall from grace, from law and crime, this is The Rise and Fall of Diddy.

Listen to The Rise and Fall of Diddy exclusively with Wondery+. I'm Jake Warren, and in our first season of Finding, I set out on a very personal quest to find the woman who saved my mom's life. You can listen to Finding Natasha right now, exclusively on Wondery Plus. In season two, I found myself caught up in a new journey to help someone I've never even met. But a couple of years ago, I came across a social media post by a person named Loti.

It read in part, Three years ago today that I attempted to jump off this bridge, but this wasn't my time to go. A gentleman named Andy saved my life. I still haven't found him. This is a story that I came across purely by chance but it instantly moved me and it's taken me to a place where I've had to consider some deeper issues around mental health. This is season two of Finding and this time if all goes to plan we'll be finding Andy. You can listen to Finding Andy and Finding Natasha exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+.

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify.