One family is calling for officers to be suspended. Now new witness accounts have been revealed

The family of a black man who died after being restrained by police are launching a campaign this week for the officers involved to be suspended pending investigations.

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The campaign, to be launched on Thursday by the family of Edson da Costa, comes as the Observer reveals worrying new witness accounts of incidents leading to the deaths of Da Costa and three other black men since June.

The campaign is adding to pressure on the Home Office to publish immediately the results of an independent inquiry into deaths in custody and racial disproportionality amid allegations that the home secretary, Amber Rudd, is sitting on its findings.

The men’s deaths have created the “biggest challenge since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry” to the criminal justice system, according to one anti-racism campaigner.

Witnesses interviewed by the Observer have raised questions over the approach of police in relation to the death of 25-year-old Da Costa after he was stopped in east London by Met officers in June, with accounts alleging he was sprayed with CS gas at close range and restrained even after he had appeared to stop moving.

New eyewitness accounts concerning Darren Cumberbatch, who died in a Nuneaton hospital in July, suggest the 32-year-old was cornered in a toilet by police and subjected to force along with Taser and pepper spray.

The other two cases concern the deaths of Rashan Charles, 20, held face down in a shop in east London and 29-year-old Shane Bryant, who was restrained in Ashby in Leicestershire and died in hospital.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The vigil preceding the funeral of Edson de Costa on Woodcocks Street in Beckton where de Costa was first injured during his confrontation with the police. Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Observer

The police watchdog, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating all four cases, though its reports are not expected until next year. So far this year, six black and ethnic minority individuals have died in police custody, compared with two last year. The funeral of Edson, 25, was held in east London on Friday, his family describing how his “death came as a huge shock and has had a great impact on our family.” Weeks after Edson died his mother, Manuela Araujo, 45, died suddenly, a tragedy the family believe was caused by the circumstances surrounding her son’s death.

Following the funeral, the family released a statement urging transparency surrounding the circumstances regarding black and minority ethnic deaths in custody.The call to suspend the officers involved is echoed by the other grieving families. Da Costa’s family also want an independent review of the role of the IPCC, a review into the use of the CS gas and an end to the use of chokeholds.

Jair Tavares, Da Costa’s cousin, said: “We want transparency across the board, at every level from the police, the IPCC, to the government.”

The independent inquiry into deaths in police custody has been delayed by more than a year, with no publication date.

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The Rev Desmond Jaddoo, a representative of the bishop of Coventry who is helping the Cumberbatch family’s campaign, said: “We are urging the release of this important report immediately.”

Rob Ferguson of Stand Up to Racism said: “The criminal justice system faces, potentially, its biggest challenge since the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.”

Lawrence, 18, was stabbed to death by a group of up to six white youths in an unprovoked racist attack as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London with a friend on 22 April 1993, a crime that had a profound and lasting impact on attitudes to race in Britain and triggered change across the public sector. Ferguson added: “The anger should not be underestimated. Confidence in the police is at rock bottom, and for a large section of the community, non-existent.”

New witnesses tracked down in the Da Costa case allege that he was sprayed from close range with CS gas while being restrained. Jussara Gomes, 23, who was driving the car stopped by police in Beckton, east London, described how she saw Da Costa “foaming” at the mouth after being sprayed. “I was asking: ‘Why is he not moving? He’s not reacting, not moving.’ This is all I’ve said for five minutes. All of a sudden foam started coming out of his mouth. That’s when they stopped holding him down.”