A MAN from Newport who died after being restrained by police was feared to have been armed when officers answered an emergency call at his parents’ house.

Mouayed Bashir died on February 17, 2021, after suffering a cardiac arrest in an ambulance.

An inquest is being held into the circumstances around his death.

Today, January 22, jurors heard from PC Laura Edwards who was the first officer to arrive at the family’s Maesglas home following the call.

After another viewing of the hour-long bodycam footage, Ms Edwards recalled her understanding of the situation and actions when she arrived at the address.

Before entering, she was made aware of a “critical marker” against the property and two “warning markers” against Mr Bashir himself – one relating to drugs, and another to firearms.

She was told Mr Bashir had been involved in a stabbing incident in Pill and was staying at his parents’ house while he recovered.

“Obviously the presence of a firearms marker was quite concerning,” she said. “That indicates some risk.”

She arrived at the house from Pill police station shortly before her colleague, PC Jac Williams, arrived from Maindee.

The bodycam footage shows Ms Edwards being told Mr Bashir had been “hurting himself” and relaying his father’s request for an ambulance in addition to police.

She heard banging and screaming from the upstairs room, which they discovered that Mr Bashir had attempted to barricade from the inside.

Mr Bashir’s mother, who can be seen holding her head and covering her mouth in the footage, told the officers her son had been “taking drugs” and “not eating”.

Ms Edwards said: “We identified that it was more of a medical incident so, in that case, we weren’t there to arrest him.”

The coroner asked about the officers’ reasoning for restraining Mr Bashir on his bedroom floor. Ms Edwards said: “It was quite a small bedroom and there were things everywhere.

“The mattress was right in front of the door, blocking it. There were clothes in there, the bedroom was broken apart. It was as if everything, all of the room, was broken and sprayed all over.

“At that time, we weren’t able to get close to him because of the aggression and him kicking out so the only way to get close to him was to restrain him, so he wouldn’t hurt us or hurt himself.”

Ms Saunders asked whether she considered at the time whether it may have been beneficial to seek help from one of Mr Bashir’s parents. Ms Edwards said: “At the time, I didn’t.

“Mouayed didn’t really seem to be responding to anything that was said to him. He was screaming a lot, things that I didn’t really understand.

“But when we were speaking to him, he wasn’t responding, so I’m not sure he would have spoken to anyone.”

The inquest continues.