Adrian McDonald

Adrian McDonald, 34, was a Black engineer and loving father of two from Huddersfield. In 2014, police were called when he became paranoid after taking cocaine and barricaded himself in a room at a birthday party he was attending. 

Adrian was restrained, bitten by a police dog, tasered and then placed in the back of a police van where he lost consciousness. He repeatedly told police officers, "I can’t breathe". Nine minutes passed before an ambulance was called, but Adrian was pronounced dead at the scene.

Two of the officers involved faced disciplinary hearings for gross misconduct for failing to treat Adrian as a medical emergency when he said he could not breathe. They were both cleared of the charges.

In 2018, an inquest jury found that Adrian died from a combination of cocaine and stress from the incident. His family were disappointed that the jury were unable to decide whether or not the police played a part in his death or the role that race played.

Adrian’s family continue to campaign for justice and against police racism and tasers.