Sergeant: Reasonable force used to restrain man

A garda told an inquest yesterday that “reasonable” force was used to restrain a naked man who had a stress-related heart attack after being handcuffed.

Sgt Keith Heffernan was giving evidence on the fifth day of the inquest into the death of William Kavanagh, aged 58, from Edenmore Crescent, Raheny, who died shortly after being restrained by gardaí when they found him running around naked in the Bayside area of north Dublin on Jun 5, 2009. He told the court Mr Kavanagh, who had punched a female garda in the jaw, had been “extremely violent” and resisted arrest but denied any mistreatment of him.

“I can definitely say that at no stage during the incident did I or any of the gardaí present assault or mistreat Mr Kavanagh in any way,” said Sgt Heffernan. “The gardaí present used a reasonable amount of force, I believe, to subdue an extremely violent man.”

Dublin Coroner’s Court previously heard Mr Kavanagh had been involved in a number of incidents earlier that evening, including assaulting his brother-in-law.

Mr Kavanagh was handcuffed and put on his side. Sgt Heffernan then called for a Garda van but when he returned Mr Kavanagh was not responding. Sgt Heffernan called an ambulance.

When asked by solicitor Michael Finucane why the handcuffs had not been removed at this point, Sgt Heffernan said he had been concerned for the safety of gardaí.

When paramedics arrived at the scene, Mr Kavanagh was not breathing.

The inquest continues today.