Shane Bryant: 'Unreasonable force' used to restrain robber during raid contributed to his death

"Unreasonable force" used to restrain an armed robber during a raid on a supermarket contributed to his death, an inquest jury has concluded.

Shane Bryant died of heart failure after being pinned to the ground 17 minutes and 12 seconds following a struggle with an off-duty police officer and a retired police officer.

The jury also criticised an off-duty police officer who was involved in the restraint.

The verdict said: "Both Bryant's involvement in the incident itself and his resistance to being restrained contributed to his death."

"Whilst much of the force used to restrain and detain Shane Bryant was reasonable, there were aspects of it that were unreasonable and, are more likely than not to have contributed to his death."

Bryant, from Birmingham, was taken ill at the scene of a supermarket raid in Ashby-de-la-Zouch on July 13 2017 and was pronounced dead two days later.

CCTV reveals Shane Bryant being pinned down to the ground by numerous bystanders including an off-duty police officer and a retired police officer

The inquest jury ruled: "There were also missed opportunities by an off-duty police officer in the management of Shane Bryant's ongoing restraint that are more likely than not to have contributed to Shane Bryant's death."

North Leicestershire Coroner’s Court heard earlier this month the “extremely muscular” 29-year-old dragged a female member of staff away from the counter at the Co-op store before forcing them to open a safe just before 10pm.

An off-duty officer and around eight other people, including a retired officer who was drinking in The Tap public house next-door, attended the shop after noticing something was “amiss”.

CCTV shows Shane Bryant entering the Co-op supermarket in Ashby-de-la-Zouch armed with a baseball bat

After failing to detain his accomplice, who had escaped through a gap in the store’s security gate, the off-duty officer and another member of the public entered the store to pursue Bryant.

The inquest previously heard that as the pair made attempts to detain him, Bryant responded by resisting "violently" and, after the member of the public was knocked to the floor, the robber “proceeded to stamp on his head”.

As he tried to escape, jurors heard Bryant ended up "banging his head on the concrete floor" and fell backwards into the group standing outside the door of the shop.

Bryant was then taken to the ground before his “getaway driver” mounted the pavement, forcing the retired officer to drag the robber out of the car’s path.

The retired officer then pushed Bryant’s head on the floor before punching him and putting him in a headlock, the inquest heard.

His family told ITV Central Shane Bryant should have ended up behind bars, not a coffin.

Leicestershire Police have said they will now consider their response to the inquest's findings and the next steps.

In a statement, Leicestershire Police said: "The past four years have no doubt been an extremely distressing time for the family and friends of Mr Bryant and my thoughts and sympathies remain with them at this time.

"It has also, no doubt, been an extremely distressing time for all those who were involved in the incident on the evening of 13 July 2017. My thoughts are also with them."

The force added: "Today’s conclusion has determined that whilst much of the force which was used on Mr Bryant was reasonable there were some aspects which were not. No more clarity has been provided as to which those aspects were.

"The conclusion has also highlighted that there were some missed opportunities in the management of this incident by one of our officers who had intervened when off duty, and that some of those missed opportunities contributed to Mr Bryant’s death."

"We know this was an extremely challenging situation for this, or any, officer to find himself in. We continue to give the officer all possible support.

"We will now consider our response to this finding and the next steps that we take. We will remain in contact with Mr Bryant’s family and other organisations involved as we progress with this."