No misconduct proceedings for West Midlands Police officer who tasered man who fell out window
Ayuub Hassan Abdi fell from a two-storey bedroom window
A West Midlands Police officer who tasered a man who fell to his death from a window should not face misconduct proceedings, the police watchdog has concluded.
Ayuub Hassan Abdi, 34, fell from a two-storey attic bedroom window at a multi-occupancy property in Handsworth, Birmingham, on September 6 2023, and died from his injuries in hospital the next day.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said on Thursday that it had concluded that the Taser was the "most appropriate tactical option" and there is no case to answer for the officer who discharged it.
Police attended Mr Abdi's address after reports that he had attacked and injured two residents and attempted to stab them.
The IOPC said body-worn camera footage showed an officer, who believed Mr Abdi had a knife, approached him with a Taser.
Mr Abdi stepped on to the back of a chair when the Taser was discharged and he fell forwards out of the window.
At the end of a nine-day inquest on Thursday, an inquest jury recorded that the evidence did not confirm whether the Taser contributed to Mr Abdi falling from the window, the IOPC said.
IOPC director Derrick Campbell said: "Our sympathies remain with Mr Abdi's family at this difficult time for them, and all those affected by his tragic death.
"Our final decision was that there was no case to answer for the officer who discharged his Taser.
"We gave weight to the circumstances faced by the officer, given two people had been injured, and a report by an independent expert who concluded that Taser was the most appropriate tactical option to achieve immediate control of a suspect who was believed to be armed with a knife.
"In terms of the proportionality of the force used, it was also our view there was insufficient evidence upon which a disciplinary panel could conclude that the officer did not form a belief that Mr Abdi posed a threat to him, or that it was unreasonable in all of the circumstances for him to have done so."