Body cam footage of a father's arrest in Anfield was shown to a court on the third day of his inquest, hours before he collapsed and died from a cocaine overdose. David Brown, 41, told police he had sniffed a wrap of cocaine and swallowed the wrapper after being searched on Priory Road on August 21 2024.
He was detained and taken to St Anne Street police station, where he was released without charge after a strip search failed to find anything. He then took a taxi to his girlfriend's house in Anfield, where he told her he had swallowed 10 £30 bags of cocaine to conceal them from police after the taxi he was riding in was pulled over.
He asked her to call an ambulance before collapsing and suffering an apparent seizure. Emergency services arrived at 12.42pm, and David was taken by ambulance to Royal Liverpool Hospital in a state of cardiac arrest. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful, and he died at 2.30pm that day.
Footage played in court
The footage, taken at around 11.20am on August 21 2024, showed the taxi David was riding in being pulled over on Priory Road, Anfield. He was spoken to by PC Williams, who said he had seen him acting in a "suspicious" manner and asked if he had been "buying something he shouldn't have".
The officer commented that David seemed "nervous" and asked about a mobile phone he was holding, which David said belonged to his daughter. Another officer, PC Miller, asked David if he had anything in his mouth. He then grabbed the other man by the back of the neck and appeared to struggle with him while saying: "Open your mouth f***ing properly. Open your f***ing mouth now. Spit it out now. Spit it the f**k out now. Spit it out now. Spit it out. Spit it out now. Spit it out. Spit it out now. Spit it the f*** out. Spit it out. Spit it out. Spit it out. There's something in your mouth. Spit it out and this will end."
David responded: "What the f*** are you going? What the f*** are you on about?" The officers continued to order David to open his mouth and spit out whatever was inside, and to show them the inside of his mouth. David said: "I've got nothing in my mouth... I've been out having a bevvy all night. I've got nowt."
Police gave David two or three 'dynamic' blows on back
Giving evidence, PC Miller said he and PC Williams had been parked in an unmarked police car on Maria Road behind Breeze Hill, gathering intelligence on suspected drug activity in the area, on August 21 2024. Shortly before 11.20am they noticed a taxi pull up, and David briefly left the vehicle for "a minute or two minutes" before returning and getting into the back passenger seat.
He said: "Often drug dealers or users use taxis to be ferried around different areas to buy or deal drugs. Usually that's a quick interaction. Whenever you see someone jump out of a taxi and jump back into a taxi, it raises suspicion." The officers followed the taxi onto Priory Road, where they decided to search David under section 23 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
PC Miller said: "As I was watching David I was sort of watching the way he was speaking and he wasn't really opening his mouth properly, as though he was trying to keep something inside his mouth. Putting drugs in the mouth is quite a common thing to do to hide them from police." Initially when I asked him to open his mouth he put his tongue out but didn't open his mouth. The second time I asked he shook his had to say no, and at that point in time I believed he had concealed something in his mouth he didn't want us to see."
He said he grabbed David by the back of the neck in an attempt to secure "pain compliance" through pressure points. He said he struck David on the back several times with the aim of making him cough up the suspected drugs. He said the first blow was administered as if giving first aid, followed by two or three "off the cuff, dynamic strikes" during the struggle.
PC Miller said: "At no point did I see anything in his mouth. It was all based off the movements and his refusal to open (his mouth). There was powder which I deemed to be cocaine around his nose and he had admitted to being out all night, so it sort of added up." My understanding was that he had sniffed it in the back of the taxi because he was aware of the police behind him." He said: "I didn't deem that he was drunk, but I did deem that he was under the influence of cocaine. Initially seeing him face to face, his pupils were constricted and he was twitching his fingers, which is a sign of class A drug use, along with the white powder around his nose."
Officer had 'no concerns at all' about David
While in the police car, David told the officers he had sniffed some cocaine and swallowed the plastic wrapper. PC Miller asked if he wanted to go to hospital, however David refused. He was taken to St Anne Street Station and strip searched, and released without charge at 12.07pm after no drugs were found.
The court heard the police had no power to force a person to attend hospital if they did not want to. It heard police had a responsibility to seek appropriate medical attention for an arrested person in an emergency, however David was not placed under arrest, and the officers did not think he needed urgent care.
PC Miller said he had "no concerns for him at all" on leaving the police station, adding he was "surprised" by David's sudden death later that day. He added: "I didn't believe he had swallowed drugs at that time. I believed he had swallowed a wrap."
