By this point, you may have seen a pretty horrific video circulating Facebook, of a police officer pushing and yelling at a mother who is distressed by other officers searching her son up against a wall.
The Facebook post states that we need to have a ‘national conversation’ about how police interact with Indigenous Australians, and also alleges that police didn’t have a search warrant to enter the home in the first place.
The poster of the video, Danny TeeJay Johnson, also alleges that the Boondall Police were called to the address for a ‘domestic dispute’, but the family “were not fighting at all just singing n dancing on a Saturday night like all Australians do”.
See for yourself, but please be warned that this footage is graphic and confronting:
Let’s see if Facebook takes it down. If they do I’ll keep putting it back up. This is how #deathsincustody start. We…
Posted by Danny TeeJay Johnson on Sunday, 17 January 2016
According to the ABC, the King family insisted that the police had the wrong house, but they came in anyway.
“They just walked straight in for domestic violence. And my sister said: ‘No where’s your warrant, you can’t just walk in like that’.” said the mother in the footage, Natasha King.
Ms. King’s sister said officers immediately aggressive: “Just the way they came in … they were just aggressive straight from the get-go, from the minute they got to the kitchen door.”
In a statement, QLD Police have now said they will review the footage and investigate the incident:
“It is alleged that whilst investigating a complaint, police were both obstructed and assaulted by persons in the house, resulting in four persons being detained.Queensland Police are yet to receive a formal complaint in respect to this matter, however, as a matter of course, police will review all available evidence.This review will encompass legislative and procedural compliance in respect of this incident, including the appropriateness and nature of use of force options exercised by police in this matter.”
