A MAN choked to death on a package of ecstasy tablets which he tried
to swallow when police were about to strip search him, a fatal accident
inquiry was told yesterday.
The inquiry at Edinburgh Sheriff Court was told that the 26 tablets
wrapped in polythene which Thomas Daly tried to swallow made a bundle
about the size of a ping-pong ball.
Attempts by police, ambulance staff, and doctors to revive Daly after
he collapsed at Portobello police station last November 26 were
unsuccessful and he died at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.
Mr Daly, 32, of Roseburn Street, Edinburgh, was about to be
strip-searched by two officers when he turned his back on them and they
heard a rustle.
There was a struggle as they tried to get the package out of his mouth
but he became weak and started to turn grey.
Accident and emergency consultant Dr Keith Little said that it was
very difficult to stop someone swallowing something but added that a
struggle could make the person take a deep breath and swallow whatever
was in his mouth.
Forensic medicine expert Professor Anthony Busuttil told the inquiry
that the package would have been almost impossible for an ordinary
person to swallow.
He said that the only way Mr Daly could have been saved was if a
trained medic equipped with special forceps had been at the scene
immediately.
The inquiry was told that, on a previous occasion when he had been
detained by police, Mr Daly swallowed something and successfully fought
off attempts to get it out of his mouth.
Solicitor Vincent Belmonte, for the Daly family, argued that, after
someone tried to swallow something, it could actually be dangerous for
officers to continue struggling and trying to get it out.
''The family are concerned with the vigour with which the search for
controlled drugs was pursued,'' he said.
Depute-fiscal John Napier and advocate Desmond Cheyne, representing
the chief constable, said that those involved had done as much as they
could to save Mr Daly.
Mr Napier said: ''Mr Daly was the author, sadly, of his own
destruction.''
Sheriff Andrew Lothian, making a formal finding, declined to recommend
that any guidelines be set down for dealing with people who have
swallowed substances.
He said that existing rules went as far as they could and added that
the situation which had arisen with Mr Daly had been unpredictable.
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