‘Met with brutal force': Thorpe demands answers after man dies in police custody in Alice Springs supermarket
Victorian independent senator Lidia Thorpe has described the death of a 24-year-old man in police custody at an Alice Springs supermarket as part of a brutal pattern of Indigenous people dying at the hands of police.
The man was inside a Coles supermarket in central Alice Springs about 1.10pm (ACST) on Tuesday when he allegedly became involved in a scuffle with a security guard.
The man was hungry and in need of care, Thorpe said, adding that he was a ward of the state and disabled.
In a statement, NT Police said: 'Two police officers were in the store at the time of the incident and restrained the adult male.
'A short time later, the man stopped breathing and CPR was commenced. St John Ambulance attended the scene, and the man was conveyed to Alice Springs Hospital, where he was pronounced deceased shortly after 2.20pm.'
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In a press conference on Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst said security guards initially confronted the man as he was allegedly putting items down the front of his clothes.
Wurst said one of the guards was assaulted before two plain-clothed police tried to help.
'The male behaved rather aggressively and was placed onto the ground by those police officers. He was later identified as losing consciousness,' Wurst said.
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