Police Scotland failed to respond properly to the death in custody of Kirkcaldy man Sheku Bayoh, a former top policeman has said.
Labour MSP Graeme Pearson, who as also director general of the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, said police should have a system in place for responding to incidents like the death of Mr Bayoh.
The 31-year-old -of-two died in custody following an incident in Kirkcaldy six weeks ago.
Mr Pearson said a senior officer whould have been sent to the scene of the altercation between Mr Bayoh and police immediately.
He told The Herald newspaper: “From the outset Police Scotland should have had a senior officer on the scene to give some kind of account of the facts.
“There should have been a prepared report for the public and this was absent. From there on it was going to be difficult.”
Hundreds of people attended Mr Bayoh’s funeral last week.
Watchdog the Police Investigations and REview Commissioner is investigating the circumstances that led to Mr Bayoh’s death but was heavily criticised for waiting several weeks to interview the officers involved.
