NSW Police declares critical incident investigation following the death of an elderly man in Bankstown, Sydney
A critical incident investigation has been declared after a man died in Bankstown, Sydney last week.
Police received a concern for welfare call from a member of the public about 5.40pm on Thursday, July 4 and went to the 85-year-old’s unit on William St almost 19 hours later, at 12.30pm on Friday.
They found the man unresponsive inside the unit and performed CPR on him.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Paramedics then arrived and declared the man dead.
On Thursday night, July 11, a critical incident was declared.
“The Critical Incident Investigation Team from Cumberland Police Area Command will now investigate all circumstances surrounding the incident, including all aspects of the response from NSW Police,” police said.
At this stage, police do not believe there were any suspicious circumstances surrounding the man’s death, Assistance Commissioner Brett McFadden told reporters.
“The information that we received from a neighbour was the (call to police) was a concern for welfare after the male on the premises hadn’t been seen for a couple of days,” he said.
“The circumstances as I understand it is that the gentleman lived on his own and had experienced some health issues recently, but the exact nature of those is unclear.
“As part of our investigation, we are reaching out to his family so that we can better understand the circumstances of this gentleman, but also the circumstances that resulted in our delay.”
McFadden said as part of their investigation, they would look at the workload the command had at the time of the call and what priorities were given.
“The circumstances are tragic ... but we want to understand whether it’s the time between the call and our response, if that was a factor in the circumstances of this man’s passing,” he said.
McFadden added the matter was of “significant concern”.
A report will be prepared for the coroner.
The investigation will be subject to an independent review by the Professional Standards Command and overseen by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.
Originally published on 7NEWS
