Police officers who Tasered and pepper-sprayed a 92-year-old dementia sufferer in his care home may have contributed to his death, an inquest has heard. Donald Burgess, a one-legged amputee, died 22 days after the incident on June 21, 2022, from Covid-19.

Police were called to the Park Beck Residential Care Home in East Sussex after reports that Mr. Burgess had refused to put down a butter knife he was holding. According to a pre-inquest hearing, officers PC Stephen Smith and PC Comotto arrived and engaged with the vulnerable pensioner. His family's lawyer, Jesse Nicholls, stated that within 83 seconds of their arrival, the pensioner was hospitalized.

Nicholls told the hearing that the officers initially shouted and then screamed at Mr. Burgess, who remained in his wheelchair. When he did not drop the knife, PC Smith hit him on the arm with a baton and then sprayed him with almost an entire can of pepper spray. PC Comotto then discharged her Taser, hitting Mr. Burgess in the chest. He was heard to groan, "I'm dying," before being arrested, handcuffed, and taken to a police station.

His condition rapidly deteriorated, and he was transferred to a hospital. While treated for a urinary tract infection, the care home refused to accept him back upon his recommended discharge. Mr. Burgess was subsequently left in the hospital awaiting a suitable care home placement, where he contracted Covid-19. He suffered a cardiac arrest and died in July 2022 at Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

Nicholls argued that the "considerable force" used by the officers could have caused "physiological stress" that had a "causative effect" on Mr. Burgess's death, asserting it was not sustainable to claim he died of natural causes. He added that the two officers quickly escalated the situation, shouting over Mr. Burgess when he attempted to speak. Body-worn video footage reportedly captured PC Comotto laughing and someone asking if there was any pepper spray left.

Sussex Police maintained that Mr. Burgess's death occurring so close in time to the care home incident was "coincidental." A post-mortem examination ruled his cause of death as bronchial pneumonia with cardiac disease.

Following the incident, PC Smith was charged with two counts of actual bodily harm, and PC Comotto was charged with one count. Both officers were acquitted of assault charges at a trial at Southwark Crown Court last year. At the trial, the prosecution had told jurors the officers had "chosen to use force first and ask questions later" and that their actions inflamed the situation with unjustified and unlawful force.

The hearing was adjourned until December 15.