Officers placed a spit hood over the woman’s head after the incident on Ma7 9 (Picture: Getty)
A 91-year-old dementia sufferer was handcuffed with a spit hood placed over her head by police officers after a disturbance with her carer.
The elderly woman was then strapped down onto a stretcher with a mask covering her face before she was carried from her home in Peckham, South London, to hospital, it was reported.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct has now launched a probe into the ‘shocking’ incident during which neighbours were alarmed by ‘crying and screaming’ from distressed woman.
One officer has been suspended and banned from using a Taser after the detention was reviewed by the police force.
Five other police officers are on restricted desk duties and are unable to have any contact with the public while the confrontation, which allegedly left the pensioner with cuts and bruises, is investigated further.
While the IOPC is now aware of the incident, the police force reportedly took more than a week to notify the public body.
Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh, who is in charge of policing in Southwark, said: ‘There are limits to what I am able to say in relation to this incident given it is now subject to an IOPC investigation, however it is clear that this will have been a distressing experience for the lady involved and that the circumstances raise a number of questions that need to be answered.
Police were called to the incident in Peckham (Picture: Getty Images)
‘While I do not wish to pre-judge this process, officers know that they must be able to justify any use of force or restraint and we will expect that of the officers involved in this incident. They also know that we expect them to show compassion and to adjust their approach in real time according to the circumstances they are faced with.
‘I am committed to transparency in relation to this incident. I am already in contact with our key partners and will keep them, and those directly involved, informed as our enquiries progress.’
One neighbour told The Sun: ‘I could hear her crying and screaming.
‘I looked out my window and could see they had her strapped down on a stretcher – it was awful.
‘There were two police cars and a van – you would think with all those people they would be able to manage it without tying her down.’
The unnamed source added that the woman had lived in the flat for many years and her mental health had deteriorated over the last decade.
A spokesman for the IOPC said: ‘We can confirm we are investigating the force used by Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) officers after they detained a 91-year-old woman in Peckham earlier this month.
‘On May 9, officers attended an address in SE15 following a reported disturbance. We understand a woman was restrained, handcuffed and had a spit hood applied. A Taser was deployed but not discharged and the woman was taken to hospital.
‘On May 17 the force made a voluntarily conduct referral to us and we began an independent investigation, which is at an early stage.
‘We have also received a public complaint concerning the level of force that was used and the injuries it is alleged the woman sustained, including cuts and bruising on both her wrists and one arm.
‘We have been in touch with the woman’s family to explain our role.’
It comes as the Met Police announced plans that will stop officers from attending mental health incidents.
The force’s commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has written to health and social care services to say police will no longer attend emergency calls related to mental health after August 31 unless there is a threat to life.
Questions have also been raised about whether the plans will prove practical on the ground.
Former Inspector of Constabulary Zoe Billingham, who is also chairwoman of NHS mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk, said that the change was ‘potentially alarming’.
‘I think it would be really, really dangerous if the police were just to unilaterally withdraw from attending mental health crisis calls right now,’ she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
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The elderly woman was then strapped down onto a stretcher with a mask covering her face.
