Family ‘in the dark' after death in custody of Indigenous man with disability at Coles supermarket in Alice Springs
The young man, who died after being pinned to the ground by police, was a 24-year-old Warlpiri man from Yuendumu, a remote community about three-and-a-half hours northwest of Alice Springs.
The young man, who lived with a disability, had been in Alice Springs for a number of years, and was under a guardianship order and on an NDIS plan.
He was confronted by security guards who believed he was shoplifting in the confectionary aisle of Coles about 1.10pm.
NT Police Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst said the 24-year-old man was then 'taken to the ground' after a scuffle with the guards, and held there for 'a number of minutes'.
Plain-clothed officers then arrived and handcuffed the young man — this is when police determined he had lost consciousness.
The handcuffs were removed and police began CPR until paramedics arrived and took the 24-year-old man to Alice Springs Hospital, where he was declared dead about 2.20pm.
His cause of death was unable to be determined by a preliminary autopsy, and the forensic pathologist is required for further investigation.
Calls for inquiry amid reports 'knee was behind his head'
There is no independent inquiry into the death at this stage.
While Wurst said police will approach the 'complex investigation' with an 'objective lens', calls are mounting for additional scrutiny.
One woman told NT News that she witnessed people calling out to police during the incident: 'This fella has a disability, he's disabled, just be a bit more careful.'
'And then all of a sudden he started fitting on the ground, like he was having a seizure,' the woman said.
One witness told the outlet they saw an officer's 'knee was behind his head', and another witness told the ABC: 'It looked pretty violent, and then they slammed him to the ground.'
Wurst said police would not 'provide specifics in relation to the actual incident and the conduct of the security guards or officers', when he was questioned about these witness reports during a press conference.
Amnesty International Australia called for an investigation to be conducted, independent of NT Police, to 'ensure impartiality and to maintain public confidence in the process'.
'The death of yet another young Aboriginal person in police custody is unacceptable and demands immediate action,' an Amnesty spokesperson said.
There have been 593 Indigenous deaths in custody recorded since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Community mourns, family left 'in the dark'
The young man's grandfather, Yuendumu elder and Warlpiri man Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, said the family has been left 'in the dark about what really happened'.
He has called for access to the CCTV and bodycam footage, which Wurst said is currently informing the police investigation.
'Family representatives need to see all available footage of this incident immediately, both CCTV and bodycam, so we can understand what happened to my jaja (grandson),' Hargraves said.
'We are terrified. We are shattered. We are frustrated. This is happening again and again.
'They (police) are saying they want to come and say sorry to us — no. We can't go on saying sorry, sorry, sorry.'
The Yuendumu community were a fortnight away from receiving the coronal findings about the death of Kumanjayi Walker, a Warlpiri and Luritja teen, also from Yuendumu, who was shot three times at close range by former NT police officer Zachary Rolfe in 2019.
An inquiry into the shooting found Rolfe not guilty on all charges over the 19-year-old's death in 2022.
After years of waiting, Hargraves said the community is now considering postponing the visit from NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage, who was set to reveal her findings to them on June 10.
'Because of all these troubles happening right now, it's too much,' Hargraves said.
'Criminalisation of disability'
The First Peoples Disability Network said the death highlighted 'the increasing criminalisation of disability' and exposed failings with the guardianship system and the NDIS.
Senator Lidia Thorpe called the young man's death yet another case of 'brutal force' used against Indigenous people.
'He was hungry and he needed care. Instead, he was met with brutal force,' she said in a statement.
'This is not an isolated tragedy — it's part of a brutal pattern where our people die at the hands of police and in prisons. We won't stop speaking out until it ends.'
Indigenous Australians Minister and NT Senator Malarndirri McCarthy described the incident as devastating — that a man 'just searching for some food' had died.
A senior relative of the man said in a statement his Warlpiri people were devastated by the death and angry that another young man had 'lost his life at the hands of the police'.
'What are the police doing using such force on a vulnerable young man in a supermarket? Did they even try to de-escalate?
'Why was he there alone, where were the carers who were supposed to be responsible for him?'
'We cannot tolerate this situation, with continued brutality and lack of respect.'
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