An Aboriginal man has been killed by police in Alice Springs

Happy Reconciliation Week.

(An image from a Death in Custody rally in Naarm in 2018. Image by Charandev Singh)

An Aboriginal man has been killed by NT Police, during an arrest at a Coles supermarket in Mparntwe (Alice Springs). He was killed on Tuesday afternoon.

Uncle Ned Hargraves Jampijnpa released a statement about his jaja (grandson).

“Our family, all Warlpiri people and many other people here in Central Australia are devastated by this death. I am angry and frustrated that yet another one of our young men has lost his life at the hands of the police.

We are demanding answers and justice.”

Already, the media are lining up to run police lines, even when we know from past reporting of black deaths in custody, that every single police account, every single quote, every single ‘fact’ or ‘assumption’, needs to be scrutinised and questioned.

Although journalists will claim that journalistic practice, and due diligence, requires them to first run authoritative accounts, we have a large body of evidence - from the landmark Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, to numerous reports, to coronial inquiries, to the lived experience of black families - that clearly demonstrate that police use the media to bypass their own accountability and deny wrongdoing prior to any investigation. This has happened time and time again.

It has happened in the case of Mulrunji Doomadgee. In the case of Stevie Lee Nixon. In the case of Ms Dhu. In the case of Ashley Washington. In the case of Wayne Fella Morrison. In the case of Mark Mason Snr. I could continue: in every single one of these cases of outright police brutality, the police have first lied, and run accounts that do not align with evidence. And the media have uncritically printed them; even bringing these same logics to coronial inquests, when the evidence of this outright brutality stares them in the face.

Not only that, it has been proven time and time again, that the NT Police are racist.

A police investigation has already been announced into the lethal killing of this young man, who has not yet been named. It is not an independent investigation; it is again the case of ‘cops investigating cops’. The one thing I know for sure: This Death was entirely preventable and this man would still be alive if not for the police entering the supermarket that day.

In his statement, Uncle Ned called on the police to release the CCTV footage, and to “stop spreading stories and show some respect”

“Family representatives need to see all available footage of this incident immediately - both CCTV and body cam so we can understand what happened to my jaja.

This young man was living away from his community, in town, in supported accommodation because of his disabilities and he was very vulnerable. He needed support and not to be criminalised because of his disability.

What are the police doing using such force on a vulnerable young man in a supermarket? Did they even try to de-escalate?

Why was he there alone, where were the carers who were supposed to be responsible for him?”

But instead of scrutinising how horrific this is, that a young Aboriginal man with a disability is killed by police in a supermarket, in front of shoppers, the mainstream media reporting is remarkably uniform; utilising passive language, like this headline from the NT News: “Death in Custody: Man ‘lost consciousness’ during supermarket arrest’.

According to this headline, the man has just ‘lost consciousness’.

Really?

Here are some lines that the mainstream media have already run uncritically from the mouths of NT police spokespeople:

“NT Police said that while he was being restrained the man stopped breathing and CPR was commenced.” - The Courier Mail

“…He was placed on the ground by those police officers. He was later identified as losing consciousness” - Police quote run by News.com.au, who also ran the quote from NT Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst: “It will also have a significant impact on the security guards and the police officers and NT police have already provided welfare support to the officers involved.”

“A 24-year-old Aboriginal man has died in custody in Alice Springs after being restrained when police intervened in an altercation at a Coles supermarket.

“…He stopped breathing while still in the supermarket. CPR was attempted and St John ambulance called.” - The Guardian

“An NT police spokesperson said two officers, who were in the Coles supermarket at the time, responded to the incident about 1.10pm on Tuesday and restrained the man.

"A short time later, the man stopped breathing and CPR was commenced," police said. - ABC

That is because the police, and the media, through their repetition of police propaganda, or copaganda, have begun not just constructing, but also fortifying a framing that aligns the man, who lives with a disability, with criminality, even when he is the one who has died; even when he is the one who is a victim.

Now, these are the questions I would ask based on the coverage:

How did the police ‘restrain’ this man? What technique did they use?

What is the meaning of ‘placed on the ground?’ This choice of terminology makes this act seem innocent, even benevolent. We do not yet have the CCTV footage. The only account we have is by police and so running this line, prior to viewing any evidence, is extremely unethical from the mainstream media. Given the vast majority of cases I have witnessed, I would question this idea that this man, who “lost consciousness’ and “stopped breathing” was simply “placed on the ground”.

When was his family informed? How long did it take them to be informed?

Where are the witnesses in the supermarket?

Was this man being surveilled in the supermarket?

How is it possible that a 24-year old man can die in a supermarket shortly after police come to arrest him? We have no information about why he was arrested, and why he was being surveilled. The only information comes from the police, who have just killed him, and thus this information needs to be heavily scrutinised and questioned.

Was this a wrongful arrest? Was this an outcome of police oversurveillance?

How has the state already been intervening in the life of this young man? What state sanctioned violence has he already been subjected to that make him the target of police?

Who was he? Who is his family? How was he loved? There needs to be an immediate recognition that his life is grievable, his life is worthy.

Would the supermarket and security guards have called police on a white man?

Will there be an independent investigation?

In a statement released today, Debbie Kilroy and Tabitha Lean from the National Network of Incarcerated Women and Girls called on a full and independent investigation into this killing, stating it is a “lethal police intervention”.

“He was trying to get food. That is what police responded to. And instead of support or understanding, hew as restrained, crushed and killed in front of shoppers in a Coles supermarket, “ Ms Kilroy said.

“Let us be absolutely clear: This was a lethal police intervention - one that reflects the every day brutality of policing in this country. This is not an isolated tragedy. This is what police do. They rob people of their lives.”

Read their full statement here.

This piece has been edited on 29/05/2025 to include Uncle Ned’s statement.