The Metropolitan police is facing a watchdog investigation after a 17-year-old boy died in a canal while being chased by officers in east London.
The teenager, believed to be Jack Susianta, had smashed a window at his home in Clapton and fled from officers who were visiting on a welfare visit. He was spotted an hour later on Hackney Marshes but ran away again, ending up in a canal at Lea Bridge Road, Hackney.
Eyewitnesses claimed that police stayed on the banks while the boy was struggling in the water and it was only five minutes after he disappeared for the last time that an officer went in. They said a passing canoeist was first on the scene to try and rescue him.
Scotland Yard refused to comment on whether health and safety rules prevented officers from jumping in earlier to rescue the drowning teenager.
A police spokesperson said: “The only thing I can say is that an officer went into the water to rescue him. We can’t say either way whether that was while he was still visible or after he had disappeared under the water. We don’t know whether they could have got in any earlier.”
Scotland Yard said that Wednesday’s incident had been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) for investigation.
In a statement, police said: “A life aid was thrown to the male but the male went under the water. An officer then entered the canal in an attempt to rescue him. The police officer was then assisted and returned to the bank by a member of the public on a kayak.”
The body of the male, who has not been formally identified, was recovered from the water by officers from the Met’s marine unit at 5.20pm.
On Thursday, school friends paid tribute to the boy, who they described as happy and popular. They said the series of events was out of character. One friend said: “He hadn’t been having troubles at home, as far as we all knew. The Jack that we knew was always really happy and cheerful and not like this. This is not how we will remember him.”
The police officers who visited his home had not been attempting to arrest him, but were attending a welfare call raised by his parents.
One eyewitness who was at the scene, Fiona Okonkwo, 42, was walking her dog when the teenager ran past her pursued by up to nine police officers shouting for him to stop before he jumped into the canal.
She said: “It looked like he couldn’t swim. The officers refused to jump in after him and said they can’t do it. I was going to jump in after him, but they stopped me.
“The police told us there were weeds underneath the water, that it was too dangerous and they could get dragged down.”
She added: “He was struggling, then he went under the water for the last time and didn’t come back up. I saw the bubbles where he took his last breath.”