Category Archives: Deaths in custody

‘It hurts and it’s wrong’: family of Aboriginal woman shot dead by WA police officer speak out after acquittal

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Supporters of JC say 30 years after the Aboriginal deaths in custody royal commission there is still ‘no equality’

The family of a Geraldton woman shot dead by a Western Australian police officer has said there is “no equality” and “no justice” for Aboriginal people after the constable was acquitted of her murder on Friday.

“In terms of Aboriginal people, we don’t get no fairness, there’s no equality and this is evidence with what’s happened here,” Bernadette Clarke, the sister of the victim, known as JC for cultural reasons, said on the steps outside Perth’s district court.

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Indigenous man dies during ‘violent struggle’ with Queensland police

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Two men are on the run after fleeing the scene in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, while two police officers have minor injuries

An Indigenous Queensland man has died during a “violent struggle” with police that also left two officers with minor injuries.

Two other men were on the run after fleeing the scene of the incident in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, after midday on Thursday.

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‘Excited delirium’: term linked to police restraint in UK medical guide condemned

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Public health bodies and families say term carries racial bias and is used to justify lethal use of force by police

Public health bodies, charities and the families of men who died after being restrained by police have condemned the inclusion of a controversial medical term in one of the UK’s leading medical handbooks.

Acute behavioural disturbance (ABD), more commonly known as “excited delirium”, a contentious expression used in fatal cases of police violence, has recently been added to the Maudsley Prescribing Guidelines (MPG).

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UN calls for end of ‘impunity’ for police violence against black people

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Report launched in aftermath of George Floyd murder cites example of 2018 death of Kevin Clarke in UK

A UN report that analysed racial justice in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd has called on member states including the UK to end the “impunity” enjoyed by police officers who violate the human rights of black people.

The UN human rights office analysis of 190 deaths across the world led to the report’s damning conclusion that law enforcement officers are rarely held accountable for killing black people due in part to deficient investigations and an unwillingness to acknowledge the impact of structural racism.

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David Dungay’s death in custody to be taken to UN human rights committee

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International lawyer Geoffrey Robertson to argue Australia failed to protect Dungay’s right to life and denied family justice for his 2015 death in Long Bay jail

International human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson will take the case of the death in custody of David Dungay to the United Nations, arguing that Australia violated his human rights and those of his family by denying them justice and accountability for his 2015 death in prison custody.

Robertson’s London-based Doughty Street Chambers will lodge the complaint on behalf of the Dungay family at the UN human rights committee in Geneva. In it they will say that Australia has failed to protect his right to life and failed to undertake investigations into anyone or any organisation responsible for his death.

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No extra training following death of Indigenous man hogtied at Adelaide prison, coroner hears

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Wayne Fella Morrison had no criminal convictions and died three days after being restrained and taken to high security area

A South Australian prison officer has denied directing other staff to destroy records, during evidence to an inquest into the death in custody of Wayne Fella Morrison – the first hearing to be held in two years.

The coroner resumed hearing evidence on Tuesday five years after the death of Morrison, a 29-year-old Wiradjuri, Kokatha and Wirangu man who died on 26 September 2016 at the Royal Adelaide hospital.

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Australia news live: NSW Aboriginal deaths in custody inquiry recommends sweeping reforms; dance squad blasts ABC over navy twerking coverage

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NSW MPs call for end to police investigating themselves on 30th anniversary of royal commission; Queensland eases Covid restrictions; fashion designer Carla Zampatti farewelled in Sydney. Follow updates live

Scott Morrison is speaking now.

Now that unemployment has hit 5.6%, the treasurer Josh Frydenberg has signalled he will revisit the budget strategy - which is that the Morrison government won’t tighten fiscal policy until unemployment is “comfortably within” 6%.

Frydenberg told reporters in Canberra that 5.6% was not “comfortably within” 6% and that now is “not the time for austerity”.

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Victorian coroner changes how Indigenous deaths in custody are investigated

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Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the new commitments

The coroner’s court of Victoria has changed the way it investigates Indigenous deaths in custody to reflect recommendations made in a royal commission almost 30 years ago, but Aboriginal legal services say they don’t have enough funding to meet the court’s new commitments.

The Victorian state coroner, judge John Cain, issued a practice direction on Tuesday outlining new standards for investigating Indigenous deaths in custody. It includes a requirement that the coroner attend the scene of death where practicable, instead of relying on the report of the police officer conducting the investigation.

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Labor senator reads out names of Indigenous deaths in custody – video

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In a powerful statement to the Senate, Malarndirri McCarthy has read out the names of First Nations people who have died in custody, citing Guardian Australia's Deaths inside project.

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Racism campaigners call for police watchdog to be abolished

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Black families whose relatives have died in police incidents demand end to systemic racism

Black families in the UK whose loved ones have died in incidents involving the police have called for the abolition of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates the police, and the immediate suspension of officers involved in deaths as part of a new plan to address systemic racism and unlawful killings.

The United Families & Friends Campaign (UFFC), which supports family members of those who have died following police incidents, has drawn up an eight-point plan calling for fundamental changes to the way deaths involving the police are dealt with. A disproportionately high number of these deaths involving the police are black and the UFFC said that failing to successfully prosecute police sends the message that the state can act with impunity.

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Essential poll: most Australians believe there is institutional racism in the US but not Australia

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Almost 80% of those surveyed agree US authorities have been unwilling to deal with racism and that is why incidents continue to occur

A significant majority of Australians in the latest Guardian Essential poll sample believe Americans are correct to demand better treatment for African Americans in their society – but only 30% believe there is institutional racism in Australian police forces.

The latest survey of 1,073 respondents shows the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of police – an incident sparking fury that spilled over into mass protests in a number of US cities, including the capital Washington – resonated strongly in Australia.

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‘Deaths in our backyard’: 432 Indigenous Australians have died in custody since 1991

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Aboriginal people whose family members have died in custody express solidarity with people on the streets of US cities protesting against the death of George Floyd

Australia’s track record on deaths in custody is again under scrutiny, as Aboriginal people whose family members died in similar circumstances to George Floyd express solidarity with protestors on the streets of major US cities following the death of the unarmed black man.

The family of 26-year-old David Dungay, a Dunghutti man who said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died while being restrained by five prison guards, said they have been traumatised anew by the footage of Floyd’s death.

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Shackling dying man Eric Whittaker to bed was ‘horrific’, coroner hears

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The NSW coroner hears that Aboriginal prisoner Eric Whittaker was unconscious and would not have been able to move

The NSW coroner has heard it was “horrific” that Aboriginal man Eric Whittaker, who died in hospital after suffering a brain haemorrhage in prison custody, had been shackled to the bed in the last days of his life despite being unconscious and unresponsive.

An emergency medicine researcher from the University of New South Wales, Anna Holdgate, went on to tell the court “we would only use restraint as a last resort” and “for the briefest time possible”.

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Tanya Day’s arresting officer tells inquest he didn’t think she needed medical attention

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Constable dismisses suggestion that according to police checklist he should have taken her to hospital

The police officer who arrested Tanya Day at Castlemaine train station said he did not think she needed medical attention despite police guidelines stating that intoxicated people who cannot provide intelligible answers should be sent to hospital.

Senior Constable Stephen Thomas told an inquest into the 55-year-old Yorta Yorta woman’s death in custody that he also did not tell her she had been placed under arrest, saying it was “the most low-key arrest I have ever done”.

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Death in custody: police failed to see Indigenous man no longer needed restraining, coroner says

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Shaun Coolwell died in hospital after being handcuffed and injected with the sedative midazolam

Queensland police and paramedics dealing with an Indigenous man during a violent, drug-induced episode failed to recognise the sudden deterioration of his health, a coroner has said.

Shaun Charles Coolwell died in hospital after being sedated and restrained in his sister’s Logan home, south of Brisbane, in October 2015.

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Sean Rigg: five officers cleared of misconduct over death in custody

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Hearing ruled claims against Met officers over musician’s death in 2008 were unproven

Five Metropolitan police officers have been cleared of misconduct over the arrest and detention of the musician Sean Rigg, who died in custody in 2008.

PCs Andrew Birks, Richard Glasson, Matthew Forward, Mark Harratt and Sgt Paul White all faced disciplinary proceedings more than a decade after the 40-year-old died.

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