Kumanjayi White’s death in Alice Springs supermarket brings sad reminders for Warlpiri people. The relatives of Kumanjayi White are demanding CCTV footage and an independent inquiry one week after the 24-year-old died in police custody at Alice Springs supermarket, Central Australia.
“The young Warlpiri man who passed away in police custody at Coles [supermarket] in Alice Springs on Tuesday, May 27 is my Jaja [grandson],” White’s grandfather, Warlpiri leader Ned Hargraves, said in a statement on Tuesday.
We know that he was restrained by two police until he fainted and died. But at the moment we are in the dark as to what occurred,” Hargraves added. Family members must be able to view all available footage of this incident right away – both CCTV and body cam so we can know what happened to my Jaja,” he said.
“But up until now, they are refusing to release this.Though more information is coming out about the conditions in which the death occurred, Hargraves stated that his grandson had been living in support accommodation due to disabilities. He required assistance and not criminalisation due to his disability,” Hargraves added.
Gene Hill, a former employee of the supermarket, said he was familiar with the victim. One look at him and you could see he’s got special needs,” Hill said and added the supermarket would benefit from having interpreters and Indigenous security guards to assist with the language difference between English and local Indigenous languages.
The Northern Territory Police Force (NTPF) reported last week that White “ceased to breathe” after he was “restrained” by two plainclothes police officers. The “police will now investigate this matter on behalf of the coroner”, the NTPF further stated, in a statement.
Independent federal senator Lidia Thorpe, Northern Territory community group Justice Not Jails, and human rights organization Amnesty International are just some of the groups backing the family’s demand for an independent investigation.
Northern Territory Senator and federal Australian Indigenous Australians minister Malarndirri McCarthy a week ago recognized the “many traumas” the Warlpiri community in outback Yuendumu country, White’s hometown, had suffered and said “calls for an independent investigation may be warranted”.
“It might be worth doing, because there is so much tension,” McCarthy, from the centre-left Labor federal government told the ABC. But Northern Territory (NT) Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said to ABC Radio Darwin “It is entirely appropriate” the NT police investigate. This is exactly what happens for all deaths in custody,” Finocchiaro, of the conservative Country Liberal Party (CLP), said.
