Homeland actor David Harewood recalls being sectioned and ‘sat on’ by six riot police officers

Actor David Harewood has reflected on his experience of being sectioned at the age of 23, saying he was “terrified”.

The Homeland star said he was given a large dose of sedatives to calm him down, and several police officers sat on him after he arrived at a north London hospital.

Recalling the experience in 1989, he told Men’s Health magazine that nobody explained what was happening to him or what his prognosis would be.

The 54-year-old said that after passing out he was taken to hospital where he “jumped out of the car” and ran inside.

“I started screaming at the top of my voice,” Harewood said.

“I don’t remember any of this, but my friends tell me that security was called.

“They came down, took one look at me – this big black man – and said, ‘No way’.

“They called the police and then several officers turned up with riot shields and rushed me.”

The actor said the police then “sat on me for hours”.

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He added: “Doctors pumped me full of sedatives and, at one point, they asked, ‘Has he taken any drugs? Because we’ve given him enough sedatives to knock out a horse and he’s not going down’.

“I was f****** terrified. The thoughts in my head were telling me that the demons had caught me, so I thought I was fighting for my life.

“Physically, what was happening to me was that six policemen were sitting on me.

“But in my mind, the devils had caught me, so I was resisting.”

Harewood told the magazine that if he had experienced the same situation in the US as a black man – his fate would have been totally different.

“I’d be dead if I’d been in America, no doubt about it,” he said.

(c) Sky News 2020: Homeland actor David Harewood recalls being sectioned and ‘sat on’ by six riot police officers