Call for death-in-custody officers to be stood down
The family of a young Aboriginal man who died in police custody wants the two officers involved to be stood down now a criminal investigation is under way.
The call comes as rallies continue across the country in a national week of action to demand justice for Kumanjayi White and an independent inquiry into his death.
Mr White, who was mentally disabled, died on May 27, soon after being forcibly restrained by two plain-clothes police officers in a supermarket in Alice Springs.
Police allege the 24-year-old, originally from the outback community of Yuendumu, was shoplifting and had assaulted a security guard who confronted him in the confectionery aisle.
NT Police on Friday confirmed to AAP the officers have not been stood down.
The force and NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro have strongly rejected calls for an external investigation, saying police are the right authority to carry it out, coupled with a coronial inquiry.
The family of Mr White said they were angry calls for an independent investigation had been rejected and police alone would determine whether any criminality was involved in his death.
"Now that a criminal investigation is under way, the family call on the NT police officers involved to be stood down immediately," they said in a statement on Friday.
"This should be an obvious action in any criminal inquiry. Stand down now!"
The family backed a call by the Central Land Council, representing Indigenous people in the NT's dry centre, for Canberra to withhold funds from the NT government until it agreed to an independent body to examine police misconduct.
NT Police has said its investigation would abide by strict protocols with full transparency and be independently reviewed by the coroner.
"We ask the community to allow the investigation to take its course," Acting Commissioner Martin Dole said in a statement.
"We are committed to a full and fair examination of the facts."
Federal Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has said an independent death in custody probe might be warranted "in the interest of having some separation".
The Yuendumu community also lost 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker in 2019 when he was fatally shot by then NT police officer Zachary Rolfe during a bungled arrest.
Mr Rolfe was found not guilty of all charges over the death in 2022.
The Kumanjayi Walker coronial findings have been postponed until July 7 after Kumanjayi White's death in custody.
Rallies to protest Mr White's death in custody and urge an independent inquiry were planned for Melbourne, Alice Springs and Cairns on Friday and Sydney, Brisbane, Wollongong and Adelaide on Saturday.
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