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• An unidentified 30-year-old man died in the early hours of Saturday 19th June after cops were called to a person “in distress”.
• Footage seen by voice.wales shows four South Wales Police officers restraining a man to the ground as he gasped for breath before silence.
• Cops can be seen trying to rouse the man before giving him CPR, later being pronounced dead in University Hospital of Wales at 2.30am.

Image: A still from an online video showing the incident

Harrowing video of an incident in which a young man has died has been passed on to voice.wales which sheds more light on the situation. 

In the video, which first appeared on Instagram, the unidentified 30-year-old is seen lying motionless on a concrete path at Glyn Collen in Pentwyn, Cardiff, as officers perform CPR.

Prior to this, four police officers are seen restraining the man as he appears to cough and gasp for breath. 

The video then cuts to him lying on the floor surrounded by the four uniformed officers, where he makes a pained noise before falling silent, prompting one of the police present to shout his name to him.

The eyewitness video then shows an officer administering CPR on the man, before swapping for another colleague to take over giving chest compressions. 

According to a South Wales Police (SWP) statement, the officers arrived at the scene at 1am. An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) spokesperson added that the man was later sent to University Hospital of Wales where he was pronounced dead at 2.30am.

voice.wales is not linking to the distressing video or naming the individual at this stage, although has learnt of his identity. 

On Monday, it was confirmed that cops had restrained and used handcuffs on the 30 year old man.

In the video, the person who appears to be filming describes the incident as police brutality. An outdoor memorial organised by the 30-year old’s friends is planned for later today (Wednesday).

The incident has been handed over to the police watchdog, the IOPC, which has said that it is investigating. 

SWP have described the death as what “appears to be a medical episode with no suspicious circumstances.”

IOPC officials have said that a callout to police was made to attend to a man “in distress” who they later “restrained and handcuffed” during their altercation. The man was not arrested at any stage. 

The watchdog said that initial statements from the officers implied the restraint applied to the man was “for his own safety.” The IOPC is aware of the video and has addressed it in a recent press release.

The latest video begins with an already circulated clip before cutting to fresh footage. 

Two people in the first video, who appear to know the man, try to identify him. The video then cuts to what appears to be the same area the following day, with a police cordon around it, and a voice says ‘that’s where the kid died.’ 

The camera is pointed at what appears to be the exact spot in Pentwyn where the man was being restrained by police.

Many comments online have pointed the finger at South Wales Police and drawn comparisons with the case of Mohamud Hassan.

The 24-year-old Black man from Roath, Cardiff, died in January following a night in the cells of Cardiff Bay Police Station. He was released without charge and told friends the morning after his arrest that he had been beaten by officers whilst in custody.

SWP has refused to release the body-worn video footage to the public, and now the IOPC have announced that they haven’t been able to access all of it from SWP. 

Several officers have been handed misconduct investigation notices, including for excessive use of force. 

But cops handed misconduct notices in relation to Mohamud’s death have not been suspended by the force, and are still working in and around Cardiff.

The incident in Pentwyn also mirrors another death Welsh cops have been involved in this year. 

Mouayed Bashir, 29, died in February after Gwent Police were called out to a mental health crisis at an address in Pillgwenlly, Newport, resulting in Mouyaed’s death. 

Mouayed’s family have called for answers over the conduct of the responding officers and are campaigning for justice. 

The father has described how he heard a series of loud clicks when several officers were in Moyaued’s bedroom, before hearing his son fall silent and seeing police use leg restraints on him. He was pronounced dead in hospital shortly after. 

The IOPC is investigating all three incidents, but the body’s own credibility has been repeatedly questioned, with it recently saying there had been some ‘slippage’ over abstaining cricuail body cam footage in the case of Mohamud Hassan.  

Last year, families of Black people who died following police contact called for the IOPC to be abolished, for what they said were repeated failures to bring about truth and justice.