There is a seat in police vans so that an officer can be facing the suspect, but it was not used JOHN LINTON/PAA man who was arrested, handcuffed and put in the back of police van ended up in hospital after setting himself on fire on the way to custody, an inquiry has found. Police Scotland were called to reports of a man with a knife involved in a disturbance in Arbroath in February and apprehended a 42-year-old man who managed to smuggle a lighter into the police vehicle. The man, who suffered burns requiring hospital treatment after setting himself alight, concealed the lighter in a knee-high side pocket of his tracksuit bottoms, which was missed by the arresting officers. An investigation by the police investigations and review commissioner, which investigates complaints against the force, revealed that the suspect, who was later convicted, had been searched three…

Source: The Times October 11, 2019 23:03 UTC