Overview
- The IOPC told the inquest that Staffordshire Police officers acted appropriately and in line with policy, raising no concerns about their conduct.
- Forensic pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer found cocaine intoxication with coronary artery disease caused Joshua Cooper’s death, which the coroner recorded as drug-related.
- Officers applied handcuffs within a minute of arriving at 11:26pm and requested an ambulance about 90 seconds after first seeing him.
- Handcuffs were removed when a bystander reported his lips had turned blue so CPR could begin, and he was pronounced dead at 12:13am.
- Witnesses reported erratic behaviour including entry into an elderly woman’s home, and police found him under fallen bricks resisting and growling as officers suspected acute behavioural disturbance; his partner described a long-term cocaine addiction.