It was the infamous Covid incident at one of Australia's busiest train stations that shocked the nation. Now the disturbing truth has emerged about what happened next...
A man has tragically died nearly four years after a police officer threw him to the ground during a protest against Melbourne 's Covid lockdowns.
In an incident that sparked international headlines, Daniel Peterson-English was manhandled by a cop at a demonstration at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station in September 2021.
A police sergeant, Beau Barrett, was charged with recklessly causing injury and assault over the incident but the case was later dismissed.
Footage from the time showed Mr Peterson-English's head hitting the floor while his headphones were knocked off.
A woman who posted the video at the time said: 'This poor guy was calm, he was just talking to the police.'
'You can see it in the video then he gets thrown to the ground. You can hear his face hit the tiles,' she said.
'We are all very disturbed by this and I've been inundated with people worldwide wanting to know if this man is all right.
'We understand the paramedics looked at him but not sure what happened after that.'
On the day he was smashed to the ground, Mr Peterson-English was arrested and fined for not wearing a face mask.
The tackle occurred after he returned to the protest, according to The Age, and he didn't go to the hospital after the incident.
In 2022, the Melbourne Magistrates' Court heard Mr Peterson-English began to 'taunt' officers at the station.
In footage played to the court, Mr Peterson-English was heard calling police 'dogs' and 'pigs'.
The case was thrown out in 2023, after Magistrate Rob Stary said a jury could not find whether Mr Barrett acted unlawfully.
In a recent online documentary, Mr Peterson-English's mother Margaret confirmed her son has passed away on March 15.
She did not disclose his cause of death.
Margaret said her 32-year-old son was a 'fragile young man totally abused by the state'.
Mark Tarrant, a Sydney-based lawyer and filmmaker who made a film called 'Covid Safe – Domestic Violence By The State', which featured Mr Peterson-English, described him as 'kind hearted'.
'Margaret's very much down about what's happened to her son, and it's not easy for Margaret,' Mr Tarrant said.
Mr Peterson-English's lawyer Kim Bainbridge claimed the heavy tackle his client suffered was followed by a 'severe psychiatric reaction'.
'He had pre-existing mental health issues which have been exacerbated by the trauma that he suffered at the hands of this police officer,' he said in 2022.
Mr Peterson-English told Melbourne Magistrates' Court he lived with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Victorian Libertarian MP David Limbrick said Mr Peterson-English didn't deserve his treatment on the day he was put to the ground.
'Nobody deserved to be treated like he was at Flinders Street Station,' he told news.com.au.
'I think it is really important we reflect on this dark period in our history and how people were treated as second-class citizens. This should never happen again.'
A coroner's report into Mr Peterson-English's death will be released in June.
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