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.

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”.