Photo: RNZ / Patrice Allen
Sentry Taitoko, 21 was found unresponsive in a police cell at the Counties Manukau Police Station on 23 February. Resuscitation efforts failed.
He died from acute intoxication from the combined effects of methamphetamine and probable synthetic drugs with associated excited delirium syndrome.
Coroner Debra Bell said the medical assessment provided by a doctor, who has name suppression, was not adequate or to the accepted standard for a medically qualified practitioner.
She said the doctor did not ask the questions a medically qualified practitioner should ask.
Coroner Bell said her finding did not mean that, had Taitoko been adequately assessed, the outcome would have been different.
She said the doctor did not ask the questions a medically qualified practitioner should ask.
Coroner Bell said her finding did not mean that - had Taitoko been adequately assessed - the outcome would have been different.
She said transporting Taitoko to an emergency department may have been difficult, but it was clear had the doctor known Taitoko suffered from head strikes, he would have had him hospitalised.
The Coroner said there was no certainty he would have survived, but it should have been recognised that Taitoko required a full medical workup and advanced medical treatment - which would be worth any perceived or real risk to him.
Coroner finds inadequate medical assessment made before man dies in police cell
15 Apr, 2021 05:24 AM
6 minutes to read
Sentry Taitoko, 21, was found unresponsive in a cell and could not be revived by emergency services in 2014. Photo / File
Sentry Taitoko, 21, was found unresponsive in a cell and could not be revived by emergency services in 2014. Photo / File
A concoction of drugs and associated excited delirium syndrome (ExDS) is the reason why a 21-year-old man died in an Auckland police cell, a coroner s report has found.
But Coroner Debra Bell found the medical assessment made of Sentry Taitoko at Counties Manukau Police Station was not adequate and that the general practitioner did not ask the basic questions .
In February 2014, Taitoko was taken into police custody for a breach of the peace early on a Sunday morning. He d recently returned to New Zealand from Australia. He d consumed alcohol, methamphetamine and cannabis and “not slept for some days”, Coroner Bell previously said.
Lawrence Smith/Stuff
Sentry’s mother Johnna and dad Migo. Taitoko was in Manurewa and had also taken what was described to police as a tab of LSD. Taitoko arrived at the Counties Manukau district custody unit about 1.45am on February 23. He was placed in cell with no furniture and, with most of his clothes removed, left in his boxer shorts.
Missing woman Maree Wilkins declared dead four years after rest-home escape
8 Apr, 2021 05:00 PM
5 minutes to read
Video from 2017: Police search for missing 84-year-old Maree Wilkins in Whangateau near Leigh. Video / North Shore, Rodney & West Auckland Police
Video from 2017: Police search for missing 84-year-old Maree Wilkins in Whangateau near Leigh. Video / North Shore, Rodney & West Auckland Police
A woman who disappeared from a dementia care facility in 2017 has been declared dead by the coroner in a report which blames staff for the length of time before she was discovered missing.
Helen Maree Dale Wilkins, known best as Maree, disappeared from Leigh Road Cottage some time between 5.30pm on November 7, 2017, when she was seen in the garden and when a staff member noticed she was missing at 6.45am the next morning.