Before HM Coroner Prof Fiona Wilcox
Inner West London Coroner’s Court
3 – 24 March 2025
An inquest has found that failures by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room to pass on to officers concerns about mental health contributed to the Chelsea Bridge death of a Black man in mental health crisis following police use of Taser.
Oladeji Omishore, known as Deji, died aged 41 on 4 June 2022 after falling into the River Thames following repeated use of a Taser by a Metropolitan Police Officer on Chelsea Bridge. He was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Deji grew up in East London with a natural gift for singing and songwriting. He had a deep passion for music and dreamed of honing his craft and achieving success. He also loved nature and history, with aspirations to travel, and was a huge fan of Arsenal F.C.
Deji was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the incident on 4 June 2022. Deji had a long-standing history of severe mental illness, having been detained under the Mental Health Act on multiple occasions.
Even though several of the civilian witnesses who phoned the police at around 9am on 4 June 2022 raised concerns around Deji’s mental health at the time, this was either not recorded by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room or, when it was recorded, was not passed over the Airwaves to officers. Nor were the first officers on the scene made aware of other units on their way.
Despite no suggestion that this was a terrorist incident by any of the public who called 999, and that officers were told by the Control Room that firearms officers were not being deployed and that Deji was “shouting at passing traffic”, the two officers involved gave evidence at the inquest that they honestly thought that they were responding to a terrorist incident when one of them tasered Deji within 27 seconds of arriving at Chelsea Bridge. Deji was not holding a weapon at the time and had not attacked anyone.
Yards from his flat, Deji was standing in the middle of the road, shouting. He had dropped the plastic firelighter he was holding after the first taser discharge but was tasered two more times, before running away from the officers and falling into the River Thames.
The jury, the family, those attending the inquest in the public gallery and legal teams had to watch the body camera footage of the officers repeatedly, seeing Deji looking visibly scared and in rolling on the ground in pain.
There were no attempts made to de-escalate the situation or engage with Deji in a calm and compassionate way. Within 52 seconds of officers arriving, Deji had been tasered three times and in a little over a minute he had entered the water.
On a previous occasion in 2019 when Deji was at the same bridge in the grips of an earlier psychotic episode, this was de-escalated by members of the public. The family have always maintained that if police had adopted the same approach on 4 June 2022, things would not have ended in the way they did.
A bystander video of Deji being Tasered and subsequently falling into the River Thames was posted on social media and went viral on the day it happened. The family were unaware of Deji’s contact with police or the use of Taser on him, before they saw the video on social media, while he lay dying in hospital.
An initial MPS statement on 4 June 2022 referred to Deji as being “armed with a screwdriver”. On 21 June 2022, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) corrected the record and confirmed that Deji had in fact been carrying a firelighter and not a screwdriver.
The inquest into Deji’s death concluded that Deji had suffered a relapse of Schizoaffective Disorder/psychosis, which affected his actions that day. The Coroner had previously directed the jury that they could not conclude that the actions of police on the bridge probably caused Deji’s death.
The jury did, however, conclude that the failure by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room to pass to the responding officers concerns from members of the public that Deji was suffering a mental health crisis possibly contributed to his death.
Speaking after the inquest, Deji’s family said: “This inquest has revealed how the police’s mishandling of Deji’s severe mental health crisis led to his death.
This should have been an ordinary policing event.
Deji had not tried to hurt anyone. He was shouting to himself while holding a firelighter which he had used to light candles at his home, just a few metres away.
Although members of the public at the scene could tell that Deji was obviously very unwell, the police jumped out of their car with Taser armed and pointed and immediately used it on him.
In doing so, those officers escalated the situation out of control and denied Deji the medical care he urgently needed.
In the 60 seconds before his fall, Taser was discharged at Deji five times (at least three of which connected).
Professional police officers should be able to tell the difference between someone who is dangerous; and someone who is obviously in distress.
By claiming not to see what untrained members of the public clearly could, the officers criminalised Deji’s illness.
It is baffling that the Coroner in this case kept the jury from questioning whether the police’s excessive use of force drove Deji to his death.
No one with mental ill health should be Tasered, certainly not multiple times, and especially not in such a dangerous environment.
Policing should not look like this. Had police met the situation with de-escalation in mind, we believe there would have been a safer outcome.
Instead, these actions have been defended as “in line with training”; a chilling reminder of how police wrongdoing gets covered up.
The footage of his final moments will never leave us: Deji, crying out in pain, cowering on the floor as he was Tasered again and again, then frightened and crawling away.
But this is not how we will remember him. He was a kind and gentle son, brother, nephew, uncle, and friend. He was loved beyond words.
Our family takes solace in knowing that we stand on the right side of history. And history will ask: How many more?
How many more families must grieve? How many more Black men with mental ill-health must suffer before the system admits what the data already shows - that this group are disproportionately harmed, disproportionately killed, disproportionately treated as threats when they need care.”
Selen Cavcav, Senior Caseworker at INQUEST said: "It is hard to reconcile this inquest's findings with the shocking footage of Deji rolling in pain on the ground while still being tasered. These images are something his family and the public will never be able to forget.
What happened to Deji encapsulates all that is wrong with our policing response that views Black men in mental health crisis as a threat requiring a violent response rather than care and support. Immediately on arriving at the scene officers threatened Deji with weapons rather than engaging with him or attempting to de-escalate.
From the very beginning police officers attempted to evade scrutiny and justify their actions. Spreading misleading and false information into the public domain is shameful and unacceptable. We must urgently redirect resources away from our broken police system and into specialist mental health care to prevent further harm and death."
Toby Wilton of Hickman and Rose solicitors, said: “Anyone who has seen the video of what happened to Deji can see this is a case about police use of force on a mentally ill man in need of help. Deji should have been met with compassion, not violence.
Yet, to this day the Metropolitan Police Service maintain the officers did nothing wrong – and the officers say that they would do the same thing even if they had been told the public’s concerns for Deji.
This inquest has exposed significant failures at every level of the Metropolitan Police Service’s response to an all too common event which should have seen Deji in hospital, not being tasered, and not in the River.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information, a photo, and interview requests please contact [email protected].
A photo of Oladeji Omishore, provided by the family, is available here.
The family are represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Kate Maynard, Daniel Machover and Toby Wilton of Hickman and Rose solicitors and Nick Armstrong KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu of Matrix Chambers. They are supported by INQUEST Senior Caseworker Selen Cavcav.
Other Interested persons represented are the Metropolitan Police Service, the two police officers involved, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (the relevant mental health trust).
Previous statements:
In 2021, the IOPC published a critical report into police use of Taser. The review found that Black people are more likely to have a Taser used against them than White people.
Other relevant cases:
- Darren Cumberbatch, a 32 year old Black man, died in hospital on 19 July 2017, nine days after excessive use of force against him, including Taser, PAVA spray, baton strikes, palm strikes, punches, and thigh stamps, by Warwickshire Police officers. He was experiencing a mental health crisis. In 2022, the IOPC announced a rare reinvestigation of his death. Media release.
- Marc Anthony Cole died on 23 May 2017 after going into cardiac arrest following prolonged use of Taser by Devon and Cornwall Police. An inquest jury found that the use of a Taser had a more than trivial impact on Marc going into cardiac arrest. Media release.
- Adrian McDonald, a 34 year old Black man, died following police restraint, police dog bites and Taser use on 22 December 2014. An inquest found that his death was caused by the “effects of cocaine and stress of incident”. Media release.
Oladeji Omishore: Inquest Finds Met Control Room Failures Possibly Caused Or Contributed To Death Of Black Man In Mental Health Crisis
CONTENT WARNING: Please read with care as this page may involve information on death, suicide, mental illness, disability, state neglect, and police and prison violence that some people may find upsetting. If you need support, please visit our support page.
Before HM Coroner Prof Fiona Wilcox
Inner West London Coroner’s Court
3 – 24 March 2025
An inquest has found that failures by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room to pass on to officers concerns about mental health contributed to the Chelsea Bridge death of a Black man in mental health crisis following police use of Taser.
Oladeji Omishore, known as Deji, died aged 41 on 4 June 2022 after falling into the River Thames following repeated use of a Taser by a Metropolitan Police Officer on Chelsea Bridge. He was experiencing a mental health crisis.
Deji grew up in East London with a natural gift for singing and songwriting. He had a deep passion for music and dreamed of honing his craft and achieving success. He also loved nature and history, with aspirations to travel, and was a huge fan of Arsenal F.C.
Deji was experiencing a psychotic episode at the time of the incident on 4 June 2022. Deji had a long-standing history of severe mental illness, having been detained under the Mental Health Act on multiple occasions.
Even though several of the civilian witnesses who phoned the police at around 9am on 4 June 2022 raised concerns around Deji’s mental health at the time, this was either not recorded by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room or, when it was recorded, was not passed over the Airwaves to officers. Nor were the first officers on the scene made aware of other units on their way.
Despite no suggestion that this was a terrorist incident by any of the public who called 999, and that officers were told by the Control Room that firearms officers were not being deployed and that Deji was “shouting at passing traffic”, the two officers involved gave evidence at the inquest that they honestly thought that they were responding to a terrorist incident when one of them tasered Deji within 27 seconds of arriving at Chelsea Bridge. Deji was not holding a weapon at the time and had not attacked anyone.
Yards from his flat, Deji was standing in the middle of the road, shouting. He had dropped the plastic firelighter he was holding after the first taser discharge but was tasered two more times, before running away from the officers and falling into the River Thames.
The jury, the family, those attending the inquest in the public gallery and legal teams had to watch the body camera footage of the officers repeatedly, seeing Deji looking visibly scared and in rolling on the ground in pain.
There were no attempts made to de-escalate the situation or engage with Deji in a calm and compassionate way. Within 52 seconds of officers arriving, Deji had been tasered three times and in a little over a minute he had entered the water.
On a previous occasion in 2019 when Deji was at the same bridge in the grips of an earlier psychotic episode, this was de-escalated by members of the public. The family have always maintained that if police had adopted the same approach on 4 June 2022, things would not have ended in the way they did.
A bystander video of Deji being Tasered and subsequently falling into the River Thames was posted on social media and went viral on the day it happened. The family were unaware of Deji’s contact with police or the use of Taser on him, before they saw the video on social media, while he lay dying in hospital.
An initial MPS statement on 4 June 2022 referred to Deji as being “armed with a screwdriver”. On 21 June 2022, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) corrected the record and confirmed that Deji had in fact been carrying a firelighter and not a screwdriver.
The inquest into Deji’s death concluded that Deji had suffered a relapse of Schizoaffective Disorder/psychosis, which affected his actions that day. The Coroner had previously directed the jury that they could not conclude that the actions of police on the bridge probably caused Deji’s death.
The jury did, however, conclude that the failure by the Metropolitan Police’s Control Room to pass to the responding officers concerns from members of the public that Deji was suffering a mental health crisis possibly contributed to his death.
Speaking after the inquest, Deji’s family said: “This inquest has revealed how the police’s mishandling of Deji’s severe mental health crisis led to his death.
This should have been an ordinary policing event.
Deji had not tried to hurt anyone. He was shouting to himself while holding a firelighter which he had used to light candles at his home, just a few metres away.
Although members of the public at the scene could tell that Deji was obviously very unwell, the police jumped out of their car with Taser armed and pointed and immediately used it on him.
In doing so, those officers escalated the situation out of control and denied Deji the medical care he urgently needed.
In the 60 seconds before his fall, Taser was discharged at Deji five times (at least three of which connected).
Professional police officers should be able to tell the difference between someone who is dangerous; and someone who is obviously in distress.
By claiming not to see what untrained members of the public clearly could, the officers criminalised Deji’s illness.
It is baffling that the Coroner in this case kept the jury from questioning whether the police’s excessive use of force drove Deji to his death.
No one with mental ill health should be Tasered, certainly not multiple times, and especially not in such a dangerous environment.
Policing should not look like this. Had police met the situation with de-escalation in mind, we believe there would have been a safer outcome.
Instead, these actions have been defended as “in line with training”; a chilling reminder of how police wrongdoing gets covered up.
The footage of his final moments will never leave us: Deji, crying out in pain, cowering on the floor as he was Tasered again and again, then frightened and crawling away.
But this is not how we will remember him. He was a kind and gentle son, brother, nephew, uncle, and friend. He was loved beyond words.
Our family takes solace in knowing that we stand on the right side of history. And history will ask: How many more?
How many more families must grieve? How many more Black men with mental ill-health must suffer before the system admits what the data already shows - that this group are disproportionately harmed, disproportionately killed, disproportionately treated as threats when they need care.”
Selen Cavcav, Senior Caseworker at INQUEST said: "It is hard to reconcile this inquest's findings with the shocking footage of Deji rolling in pain on the ground while still being tasered. These images are something his family and the public will never be able to forget.
What happened to Deji encapsulates all that is wrong with our policing response that views Black men in mental health crisis as a threat requiring a violent response rather than care and support. Immediately on arriving at the scene officers threatened Deji with weapons rather than engaging with him or attempting to de-escalate.
From the very beginning police officers attempted to evade scrutiny and justify their actions. Spreading misleading and false information into the public domain is shameful and unacceptable. We must urgently redirect resources away from our broken police system and into specialist mental health care to prevent further harm and death."
Toby Wilton of Hickman and Rose solicitors, said: “Anyone who has seen the video of what happened to Deji can see this is a case about police use of force on a mentally ill man in need of help. Deji should have been met with compassion, not violence.
Yet, to this day the Metropolitan Police Service maintain the officers did nothing wrong – and the officers say that they would do the same thing even if they had been told the public’s concerns for Deji.
This inquest has exposed significant failures at every level of the Metropolitan Police Service’s response to an all too common event which should have seen Deji in hospital, not being tasered, and not in the River.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information, a photo, and interview requests please contact [email protected].
A photo of Oladeji Omishore, provided by the family, is available here.
The family are represented by INQUEST Lawyers Group members Kate Maynard, Daniel Machover and Toby Wilton of Hickman and Rose solicitors and Nick Armstrong KC and Ifeanyi Odogwu of Matrix Chambers. They are supported by INQUEST Senior Caseworker Selen Cavcav.
Other Interested persons represented are the Metropolitan Police Service, the two police officers involved, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust (the relevant mental health trust).
Previous statements:
In 2021, the IOPC published a critical report into police use of Taser. The review found that Black people are more likely to have a Taser used against them than White people.
Other relevant cases:
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