What was claimed
A person detained by police at a protest in Sheffield on 13 June died after his arrest.
Our verdict
Incorrect. The individual involved—a 17-year-old boy—did not die. He was taken to hospital to receive treatment for his injuries and later discharged himself.
Earlier this month we saw claims on social media that a person died after being detained by police officers at a protest in Sheffield. But this isn’t true.
A video, which has been reposted over 15,000 times on X and also widely shared on Facebook, appears to show a person draped in a Union Jack flag being detained by police.
Captions shared with the footage, which was filmed at a ‘Raise the Colours’ demonstration on 13 June, say: “It’s being reported that this man has sadly died.”
However the person who was detained—a 17-year-old boy—did not die.
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A statement from South Yorkshire Police issued on 14 June said: “We are aware of a video and information circulating online relating to the arrest of a male during a protest in Sheffield on Saturday 13 June.
“Officers used force to detain a 17-year-old boy… The teenager was subsequently de-arrested in order to receive medical treatment at hospital for his injuries, where he later discharged himself.”
Sheffield local newspaper The Star, which attended the protest and caught part of the incident on camera, has also reported that the boy was discharged from hospital. The BBC also reported that the boy was de-arrested to receive treatment at hospital and later discharged himself.
It was also initially reported that a referral had been made to the Independent Office of Police Complaints (IOPC) by South Yorkshire Police. However, the IOPC has since told us it is not investigating.
South Yorkshire Police also told Full Fact: “The 17-year-old did discharge himself from hospital. He has not died.
“The IOPC has returned a referral to the force, confirming it did not meet the criteria for investigation.”
Before sharing content like this which you may come across online, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a verifiable and trustworthy source. Our Full Fact misinformation toolkit contains tips on how to do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the 17-year-old in the video did not die. He was injured and taken to hospital, but subsequently discharged himself.
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