Vital signs missed as Samuel lay dying

POLICE officers took around eight minutes to start CPR on a man found unresponsive having failed to check for signs of life when they arrived, an inquest into his death heard.

- By WILLIAM MORGAN

Cops ‘failed to take steps to preserve life,’ a coroner found following a week-long hearing into the case of Samuel Curless.

She criticised the force for a 20-minute delay in sending an ambulance once officers were at the scene and questioned training during the pandemic.

The police watchdog separately identified a number of failings and said the officers involved ‘declined to provide a rationale for their decision-making.’

Mr Curless, 29, from Tameside, was found by GMP officers on a Droylsden allotment on October 22, 2022. An inquest at South Manchester Coroner’s Court, Stockport, heard he had earlier attempted to take his own life.

Police received a 101 call from an unknown person, before finding Mr Curless unresponsive.

Believing he was dead, officers began taping off the scene.

The inquest heard they failed to make the checks required at a ‘risk to life’ incident.