Man with depression was 'suffocated by bouncers after argument outside nightclub'

Suffocated: Adam Hird died after a row outside a club
Paul Cheston11 January 2016
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A man suffering from depression was suffocated to death by three night club bouncers, the Old Bailey heard today.

Adam Hird, 30, had attended a social event for similar sufferers on the night he died in June 2014, the jury was told.

In the early hours of the morning he tried to gain entry to two clubs in Vauxhall but was turned away.

When he returned to Club 65 for a second go a row ensued and Mr Hird was pinned to the ground for six minutes, said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson.

“A number of observers saw that Mr Hird had stopped struggling and told (the bouncers) this and they eventually realised that he was unconscious and released him,” said the prosecutor.

“But in that time excessive and in appropriate pressure was applied to his neck and/or his chest which, in combination with the rigidity and duration of the restraint would have seriously restricted his ability to breathe.

“Mr Hird had been asphyxiated. There was no natural cause for this to have happened. He had lost consciousness and ceased to breathe as a result of the restraint to which he had been subjected.”

Mark Pantallaresco, 51 of Tadworth, Surrey, Lewis Thorne, 22 of Meadsway, Essex, and Sebastiano Ragusa, 31 of Lewisham, have all pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence.

Mr Atkinson told the jury that Mr Hird “had suffered from depression for some time prior to his death.”

That evening he was at the social event at the Riverside restaurant and pub in Vauxhall where he was described as “exuberant”.

Witnesses say he did not appear to have drunk heavily or was “belligerent”.

While some members of his group went home, Mr Hird and others decided to continue the evening at a club.

However trouble started when he sought entry to Club 65 for a second time around 3am.

“There is evidence that he became verbally abusive and some evidence that he may have struck Ragusa,” said Mr Atkinson.

“He seems to have appeared angry and aggressive – the very type of person that door supervisors would be expected to deal with using the minimum level of force and trained to deal with without posing any risk to his health and wellbeing.

“The defendants sought to restrain him. Ragusa held his legs while Thorne and Pantallaresco held his body and head respectively.

“The negligence of the manner in which they restrained Mr Hird was gross and involved the excessive use of force.”

Although Raguso’s involvement posed less of a “direct risk” he failed to summon medical assistance, threw water in Mr Hird’s face and then lied about it to a first aider, the court heard.

The case continues.

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