NT chief minister rejects calls for independent investigation into death in custody

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Northern Territory Chief Minister has rejected calls for an independent investigation into the death of an Aboriginal man in police custody at an Alice Springs supermarket last week.

Transcript

00:00In the eyes of the Northern Territory's Chief Minister,

00:06there's no question over who should investigate

00:08the death in custody of Kumanjai White.

00:11And so the police will investigate,

00:14the coroner will investigate.

00:15They're the appropriate mechanisms.

00:18And all of this speculation is fuelling a political debate

00:22rather than dealing with the actual issue at hand.

00:24Her comments follow calls from Mr White's family

00:27and advocacy groups for an investigation

00:30to be conducted separately to police.

00:33Police. We do not trust them.

00:37Right now we are very, very angry. We are very angry.

00:41The 24-year-old Wapri man who died last Tuesday was from Yundamu,

00:45the same community as Kumanjai Walker,

00:48who was fatally shot in 2019 by a police officer

00:52during a bungled arrest.

00:54While the two deaths in custody share some similarities,

00:57the political responses have been very different.

01:01Back then, former Chief Minister Michael Gunner

01:03travelled to Yundamu and promised justice,

01:06while Leah Finocchiaro has chosen a different strategy.

01:10It's a tragic situation,

01:11but it's one that needs to be moved through carefully.

01:14And I'm not going to make the same stupid mistakes

01:18that Labor made when they ran in on these types of issues

01:21and put themselves, created a political situation

01:24around something that needs to be done properly.

01:27With calls for an independent investigation denied,

01:31the family has another demand.

01:33We want them two policemen to stand down

01:35until further notice.

01:40NT Police has not identified the officers involved

01:43nor confirmed whether they have been stood down.

01:47NT Police missed the officers' movement of the officers

01:49and military calls that were Russian.

01:51�

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