POLICE officers “helped in any way they could” while paramedics fought to save a critically ill man from Newport, an inquest has heard.

Mouayed Bashir died at the age of 29 on February 17, 2021, after being restrained by Gwent Police officers on his bedroom floor and suffering a cardiac arrest on the way to Grange University Hospital.

Today, January 25, Newport Coroners Court heard from Welsh Ambulance Service paramedic Zoe Lambert who attended the incident at the Bashirs' family home in Maesglas.

Ms Lambert’s vehicle was allocated the incident at 9.53am, when it had an "amber" classification, and it went on to be upgraded to the most urgent code red.

The paramedics deployed sirens and blue lights throughout their journey and, after arriving at the house, took four minutes to don personal protective equipment, remove equipment from the vehicle and reach Mr Bashir in the upstairs room.

A reading of Mr Bashir’s core body temperature read 40.9 degrees, indicating “very serious hyperthermia”, Ms Lambert said.

She noticed “bloodstained phlegm or saliva” coming from his mouth and listened to his chest with a stethoscope in an effort to assess the origin of the blood.

She told the court Mr Bashir’s lungs had sounded “quite clear” and praised the police’s efforts to keep his airways open.

At the same time, the patient had a very high pulse that indicated his “heart was working very hard to make some sort of compensation”, Ms Lambert said.

She described the 29-year-old as “one of the sweatiest patients” in her professional experience, so much so that his immediate surroundings were wet, and “morbidly agitated”.

Asked about the police’s use of fast straps around the patient’s legs, she said: “At that time, with that presentation, I did not feel they were impeding my assessment.

“I have no experience in restraint. I have my own job, my own role to undertake.

“It gave me an opportunity to be safe next to him. The focus of my observations are normally the chest, the head, the upper body… and that was my focus at that time.”

Ms Lambert said she had reassured her “colleague”, police medic Charlotte Davies, that she had handled Mr Bashir’s presentations well.

Asked about Mr Bashir’s level of consciousness during the ordeal, she said he had found one hand with the other which suggested a level of proprioception.

She did not recall a discussion that Mr Bashir was suffering from an acute behavioural disturbance in the house.

‘Rescue mission’

Jurors also heard today from PC Damien Geraghty, who described the police perspective from his time of arrival as a “rescue mission”.

He added: “By the time we arrived, we were just waiting for an ambulance to turn up.”

Mr Geraghty was not involved in the bedroom but helped to carry Mr Bashir downstairs in a collapsible chair.

Officers tied Mr Bashir’s hands in plastic cuffs, which Mr Geraghty likened to a zip-tie, so he did not injure his flailing arms while being transported out of the house.

The court heard how Mr Bashir's father asked for his son, who was wearing only underwear, to be dressed. Ms Lambert told the court it was a "very public evacuation" with numerous bystanders.

Mr Bashir had a cardiac arrest “pretty much as soon as he got in the ambulance” and officers started to perform CPR.

Ms Lambert said she was happy for the officers to continue as she observed the speed, depth and positioning of their compressions, and it freed her and her colleague to complete other crucial tasks.

Asked about their ability to perform CPR in a moving ambulance, Mr Geraghty said: “It’s not the best but it was the best we could do at the time.”

Ms Lambert told the jury: “Police officers helped us in every aspect of this incident. We were only a team of two and they helped us in any way they could.”

The inquest continues.