Sergeant Arthur Springer said he saw four officers rush to take down Corey Best from where he was allegedly found hanging in one of the cells at the Oistins Police Station.
Springer told Coroner Manilla Renee he was conducting roll call when Constable Small entered the front office and said he “saw the suspect in the first cell hanging by his neck”.
In his statement, which he read to the court, Springer said he immediately told the station orderly Constable Jason Green to get the keys. He said Constables [Jason] Clarke, [Jason] Williams, Green and he went to the first cell and opened it.
“I saw Corey Best hanging by his neck with blue jeans pants tied around his neck from the metal bars at the back of the cell. Clarke, Williams and Green untied the pants from around his neck and [took] him down from the bars,” he said, adding that Constable Renaldo Holder assisted.
In reply to attorney Tristan Elcock, Springer said the officers did not have to “struggle for a while” in taking Best down and did not see a chair in the cell.
When pressed as to why he did not assist, he said Holder, who is bigger, was right behind him when they reached the cells.
“I did not check for a pulse or to see if the deceased was breathing nor observed any of the other officers doing so [because] I have never received training in this area,” he said.
