Twenty-year old Rashan Charles is dead. Rashan was followed into an off-licence by a police officer and according to the Metropolitan Police’s official statement, “he was seen to be trying to swallow an object. He was then taken ill. He was taken to hospital by the London Ambulance Service where, sadly, he died later that morning.
The problem for the Met is that social media works faster filling in the holes in their story than they do constructing their false narrative. CCTV footage obtained from the scene of the incident shared on Twitter shows the police officer body slamming Rashan then mounting him before he does indeed appear to attempt to put an object in or near his mouth, Rashan flails his limbs before a man in plain clothes joins the police officer helping subdue Rashan by placing his full weight on his prone body. Without this CCTV footage, the Met would be free to pretend there were no other factors contributing to the fact that this young, black man is dead - proving once again when black lives are in white hands, their version of events is questionable.