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An eyewitness account of the police killing of a young Warlpiri man in Alice Springs Coles from the NT News. This is how George Floyd was murdered:
A customer who said she witnessed the incident has alleged the tragedy was “avoidable” and was “absolutely disgusting”, saying officers were warned by bystanders to “be careful” as the man had a disability.
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The woman — who asked not to be named — said she heard a “commotion” in the nearby aisles and went to see what was happening.
She alleged the officers had the man on the ground as Coles workers yelled out “stay down, stay down” and “don’t move, get down on the ground”.
“There was an Aboriginal man on the floor and a police officer had his knee behind his head,” she said.
The customer said the man’s friends were calling out: “Hey look this fella has a disability, he’s disabled, just be a bit more careful”.
“But no one obviously listened,” she said.
“And then all of a sudden he started fitting on the ground, like he was having a seizure.”
The customer said as soon as his medical emergency was recognised, they grabbed the defibrillator — but said that did not work — before starting CPR.
“As he was having the seizure everyone rushed over,” she said.
The Alice Springs resident said she felt the tragedy could have been avoided.
“If they had sat him up, had his hands behind his back and let him sit up for a minute — Not keep him down on the ground,” she said.
“I just feel so sorry for the family.”
She questioned the reaction of security and police to question the man allegedly stealing “a couple dollars worth of food” from an aisle filled with just chocolates, lollies and juice.
“That’s not worth someone’s life,” she said.
The woman said she had not seen security at the Coles stepping in to stop shoplifters, but on that afternoon they had acted “so dramatically”.
Mr Wurst said police would be investigating the reports that officers were warned about the young man’s disability during the arrest — noting that unlike Darwin, Alice Springs Police did not have a mental health co-response team.
“All of that information is going to be very relevant to the coronial investigation,” he said.
He was unable to confirm if the officer’s knee was behind the young man’s head, or how many people were holding him down before he lost consciousness.
“I’m not going to provide specifics in relation to the actual incident or the conduct of officers or security guards or any other members of the public,” he said.
He said the forensic pathologist had completed the autopsy, but at this stage was unable to determine the cause of death.