originally by: The Guardian
19th April 2011

The independent police watchdog is investigating after a father-to-be died in police custody following an apparent altercation at a pub in east London. Friends of Michael Sweeney, 38, said he was in the Approach tavern, in Hackney, east London on Monday evening when police were called.

One friend told the Guardian that he had heard reports that more than 10 police officers had attended the scene and Sweeney was led away. He was pronounced dead later that evening at the Royal London Hospital.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said officers were called to the pub at 7.25pm following a report that there was a man on the premises in possession of a knife. “Officers attended and detained the man. He was taken to the Royal London hospital by police where the man subsequently died.”

Scotland Yard said the matter was being investigated by the directorate of professional standards at the Met and by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Officers from the directorate of professional standards were at the pub most of the day.

Sweeney, of Bow, east London, was about to become a father for the first time, according to friends. But he had already served two long prison sentences.

The IPCC’s statement said: “At approximately 7.40pm on Monday 18 April 2011, police were called to the Approach tavern on Approach Road (E2) by a member of the public reporting that a man in the pub had a knife.

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