Police officer threw homeless man out of station then watched DVD as he died of hypothermia
Pericles Malagardis was waiting to collect his dog Django
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A police officer who threw a homeless man out of a station and then watched a DVD as the man died outside of hypothermia has been fired.
Pericles Malagardis, who was sleeping rough at Heathrow airport, had gone to Uxbridge Police Station to collect his dog.
The 63-year-old’s Jack Russell, Django, had been placed in kennels while the owner was being treated in hospital for the skin infection cellulitis.
The Greek national arrived at the station’s front office at about 4pm on 4 March 2016 but was ejected by PC Bhupinder Kalsi and a member of police staff hours later.
He was asked to leave for smoking inside the station at 12.40am and then physically “thrown out” shortly afterwards, an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) found.
“He remained outside the station throughout the night,” the investigation concluded. “When a check on his wellbeing was made at about 5.30am he was unresponsive and the London Ambulance Service was called. Mr Malagardis was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead at about 6.45am.”
He was found to have suffered from hypothermia and the watchdog referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider charges of gross negligence manslaughter.
The CPS said it received the referral over both Ms Kalsi and the member of police staff involved, but “we found there was not enough evidence to prosecute them for any offences and took no further action”.
The case concluded with an internal disciplinary hearing by London’s Metropolitan Police, which resulted in Ms Kalsi being dismissed without notice.
A panel found that she “did not provide information requested by the London Ambulance Service regarding actions taken to support Mr Malagardis, and failed to follow instruction and training when dealing with unresponsive casualties” after he was found unconscious on the pavement.
The panel concluded that Ms Kalsi was also “viewing a DVD whilst on duty, following Mr Malagardis’ ejection from the front office/reception area” and “failed to exercise reasonable care in her treatment and monitoring of Mr Malagardis, following his ejection”.
Mr Malagardis moved to London in 1989 and worked as a delivery driver for more than a decade before losing his job and becoming homeless after the breakdown of a relationship.
He was described as a “familiar figure” in terminal 5 at Heathrow airport and wellwishers had been attempting to contact his sons in Greece and raise money for him to fly back to his home country.
Rough sleeping in London hit a record high last month after what researchers called an “appalling spike” in homelessness. A separate study found that at least one homeless person has died every day on average in the UK over the past year.