Family sues NT government over death
The family of Kumanjayi White, a young Warlpiri man who died in May after being apprehended by police in an Alice Springs supermarket, have lodged documents to sue the Northern Territory government.
Mr White’s mother and family are seeking damages, alleging two police officers acted unlawfully in apprehending Kumanjayi and used force that ultimately caused his death.
“They messed with the wrong family,” Mr White’s aunt Maxine Carlton told the ABC.
“We’re going to fight this all the way, no matter what it takes.”
Mr White’s death, on the floor of an aisle in a Coles supermarket after he was restrained by police in Alice Springs, sparked a wave of outrage across Australia.
The application also requests the NT government to share further information about the incident, and access to CCTV footage, after his grandfather Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said police had shared only limited information with the family.
gGandfather Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves said police had shared only limited information.
The documents filked with the court allege the force the two police officers applied was “unreasonable” and amounted to assault, battery and false imprisonment.
The family want damages, including for burial costs, injury and louses to family and all legal costs.
NT Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said the death heartbreaking, but that it was still being investigated by the police.
