Doctor details reasons Amanda Bolt may have died in police custody at coroner's inquest

The doctor who conducted the autopsy on a London woman who collapsed in police custody and later died in hospital told a jury Tuesday that a faster medical response could have increased her chances of survival. 

This is the fourth day of a mandatory coroner's inquest into the death of Amanda Bolt who spent the night in the London police’s detention centre on Nov. 2, 2019 after being arrested twice in one day. The then 28-year old went into medical distress the next morning and died 10 days later in hospital. 

Tuesday marked the first time the five-person jury heard from medical professionals, including Dr. Edward Tweedie, the forensic pathologist who conducted Bolt’s autopsy the day after she died. 

Tweedie told the jury Bolt died because of brain damage, which she experienced after going into cardiac arrest sometime after 9:30 a.m. in her jail cell. 

It took officers approximately 15 minutes to find her and begin administering first aid, the jury heard last week. 

“She ultimately suffered fatal brain damage that resulted from a period of time where her heart had been stopped, prior to being restarted, when she was discovered unresponsive,” Tweedie said.

“During that time of cardiac arrest, her brain was deprived of oxygen and blood flow, and she suffered from irreversible brain damage of which she was not able to recover from.”

As the jury has heard, Bolt was arrested the morning of Nov. 2 for property damage and was released with the expectation that she go to Chapman’s Pharmacy, a block away from police headquarters, to pick up medication for a heart condition. 

Bolt did not go to the pharmacy, but instead visited an address from which she was banned and was arrested a second time. 

Once back in jail, Bolt repeatedly asked to be taken to hospital to get her medication, but sergeants ultimately decided to keep her in custody. Officers told the jury she refused to take the medication she had on her person.

Tweedie said that if Bolt had gone into cardiac arrest while at a hospital, there’s a possibility she would have survived.

“There’s a higher chance of survival if someone is observed to have a cardiac arrest when other people are there and can provide a prompt resuscitative measures,” he said.

Earlier in the day, the jury heard from toxicologist Robert Low, who presented Bolt’s toxicology report which showed she had levels of substances including hydromorphone, methamphetamine and amphetamine in her system. 

Tweedie said that when he initially conducted Bolt’s autopsy, he believed she initially went into cardiac arrest due to drug intoxication. However, that changed when he watched video footage of Bolt in her jail cell in February of this year while preparing for the inquest.