Video footage has shown a man being pinned to the ground by police before he died in an ambulance on his way to hospital, with a critical incident declared over the incident that began as a welfare check in inner Sydney.
Emergency services were called to a unit complex on Pitt Street in Waterloo about 2am today following a concern for 45-year-old resident Collin Burling.
But he was handcuffed, restrained on the ground and died on his way to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Burling’s distraught partner, Taite Collins, had been watching from their apartment, filming part of the incident.
On the video footage, officers can be heard yelling “stop resisting” as they pinned Burling to the ground while he was handcuffed.
Burling had been repeating: “I’m not a threat”.
Police then moved away and paramedics took over to resuscitate him, Collins said.
“He’s a beautiful man, big burly man but he’s got a heart of gold,” Collins said.
Moments before Burling was restrained, he was in an ambulance in a stand-off with police.
NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Peter McKenna earlier today said paramedics arrived on the scene first and then made an “urgent request” for help from police.
He said Burling had been suffering from a mental health episode and was at first cooperating with emergency crews, with paramedics able to get him into the ambulance with police assistance.
But he soon “became aggressively resistant” to the paramedics and police and had to be restrained.
Paramedics then tried to sedate him and he went into cardiac arrest.
McKenna said he did not know whether he had been sedated or not when he went into cardiac arrest.
Officers and paramedics tried to revive the man.
Burling was taken to Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he was declared dead.
A critical incident investigation team from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad will probe the circumstances around the incident.
McKenna said police and paramedics were there to help him and the circumstances of what happened after that will form part of the investigation.
“There’s body-worn video that will be part of the investigation,” he said.
“I can say that I’m not aware of any arms (weapons) being used aside from handcuffs.”
Four junior police officers will be interviewed as part of the investigation.
The investigation will be subject to an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and will be overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
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