A Polish man from Preston has died in custody due to critical “failings” by police, medical staff and a language interpreter.
Bogdan Wilk, 54, of Goldburn Close, Ingol, was detained in custody at Preston Police Station after being arrested on suspicion of assaulting his partner. Mr Wilk suffered from a serious heart condition and had undergone two operations since his heart attach in 2007. The interpreter responsible for translating Mr. Wilk’s comments at the station did not relay to police officers that he was experiencing severe heart pains, and the spray which Mr. Wilk used to control these pains had not been booked in at the custody suite. Mr. Wilk was found dead in his cell the following morning.
The jury ruled that Mr. Wilk had died from a coronary atheroma, and their appraisal of the handling by police, medical and translation professionals, was damning: “We think it more probable than not that the joint failings of police, Medacs and translation procedures are all contributing factors to the death of Mr. Wilk.” Furthermore, they agreed that the police had not assessed Mr. Wilk’s medical needs quickly enough. Healthcare professionals from Medacs offered a “poor assessment” of Mr. Wilk when he arrived at the station, and the lack of an interpreter’s transcript warning of Mr. Wilk’s condition proved to be fatal.
Andy Cooke, assistant chief constable at Lancashire police, said: “This was a tragic case and we express sincere condolences to the family of Mr Wilk.
“We await the coroner’s formal notification which we will study closely and act upon as quickly as possible to try and ensure we minimise the risk of this type of incident occurring again.”
Image from boegh
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