Calls For Investigation After Cops Arrest Aboriginal Teen Who Was Having An Anxiety Attack

Police arrest Aboriginal teen during anxiety attack

There are calls for an independent investigation after police arrested an Aboriginal teenager in Sydney while she was having a panic attack, which was first reported by Triple J’s Hack.

Anaywan and Birripa woman Tarniesha Widders, 19, told Hack that she and her partner had been driving through the Sydney suburb of Darlington, near Redfern, when they decided to pull over because she was having an anxiety attack.

“Two police came around the corner and they pulled over and they got out of the car and asked what I was doing,” Widders told the program.

“I asked him why they pulled me over… that was racial profiling automatically, and he wouldn’t give me an answer and it start to really get heated quickly.”

As Widders’ partner Lili Bayles – who is also Aboriginal – was trying to comfort her, a police officer can be seen grabbing Bayles.

Police then arrested Widders and put her in handcuffs, which she says just made her panic even more during the anxiety attack.

Meanwhile, people could be heard telling the police to deescalate the situation and asking why the two women were being arrested in the first place when they hadn’t actually done anything wrong

Widders herself asked for medication during the arrest.

“I wanted medical assistance because of the state I was in… I’m sure they have people like that at the police station, I would have just appreciated medical assistance,” she later told Hack.

Now the lawyer for the couple is calling for an independent investigation into what went wrong that night.

“It is my view and the view of many First Nations people that police should never be first responders in a mental health crisis,” their lawyer, George Newhouse, told Guardian Australia.

“Police are trained to use weapons and not words in difficult situations.”

He’s calling for the incident to be referred to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission, which has shed light on police brutality against young First Nations people in the past, as well as the director of public prosecutions.

A spokesperson from NSW Police told Hack that the two women “appeared to attempt to hide behind parked cars” which is why the male officers stopped in the first place to ask for ID.

“During this conversation, the 19-year-old woman became aggressive and spat towards police, before telling officers she would run from them and when she started to walk away, she was pushed back and later restrained,” the spokesperson said.

Two female officers then arrived at the scene and searched the two women. When nothing was found on them, they were free to leave.

Nevertheless, the fact that an Aboriginal teenager was arrested when what she really needed was medical assistance is harrowing reminder of police the ongoing brutality against First Nations people in 2021.

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