Review Decision Not To Discipline Corrective Service Officers Over Death of David Dungay J

The issue

# Warning this footage shows the image of a First Nations person who is now deceased. The content of this footage is traumatising to all First Nations people and those who stand with them.  

On Friday the 22nd November 2019 NSW Deputy Coroner, Derek Lee  handed down his findings into the death of 26-year-old David Dungay Jnr while in custody in December 2015.

Mr Lee rejected a submission from Mr Dungay's family that four Corrective Services NSW officers be referred for disciplinary proceedings.

David Dungay Jnr, died while being restrained, by brute force, by five corrective service officers in Long Bay Prison Hospital,  on the  29th December 2015.  David Jnr. was an Aboriginal man with diabetes and was allowed to have biscuits in his cell, to manage low sugar.

The senior officer did not have the authority to commence the actions against David Jnr, and the officers involved did not follow proper procedures or protocols for restraining an individual. Not one officer questioned the use of force on a man, who was not fighting restraint, but continued to indicate, in terror, that he could not breathe.

The senior officer under questioning was noted to be untruthful, and key information on who initiated the actions was kept from the coronial inquiry as a source of information unkown.   

On the day of his death David Jnr, was eating rice crackers when an unnamed corrective service officer decided he had eaten too many. A response was made to David, with five officers gathered outside his cell door. He was asked to put his hands through the cell door to be hand cuffed within a one minute time frame. He was putting on his shirt when told he was running out of time.

He said "come in, come in". The five officers stormed the cell and all five pinned him with such force that he can be heard screaming in terror 'I can't breathe.'

He is held down for over four minutes screaming repeatedly 'I can't breathe'. Each time his cries where dismissed with 'You are talking you can breathe. You brought this on yourself.'

Wide community outrage for David Dungay, is not evident even though his death, is another in a long line of Black Deaths in Custody. 424 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into black Deaths in Custody in 1991.

None of the recommendations have been realised and no one has ever been convicted or held to account.

As marginalised people, Aboriginal Australians do not have a voice strong enough, to make Governments accountable for deaths like David Dungay Jnr's That does not mean they aren't able to resist to oppressive treatment, but rather, that when when they do, their peacful resistance is  securing the the Black Lives Matter and Black Deaths in Custody through the efforts of activists like poet playwright Uncle Ken Canning .

Non Aboriginal Australian's  need to dispel the myths, that Aboriginals who die in custody, invite their death by virtue of being in custody. They must also  ask how some one like David Jnr.  can be subdued with such force leading to death, for simply eating too many biscuits and those involved received impunity. Australia's empathy must arise by thinking of  David as if he were our son; grandson, brother; uncle; cousin; father; or friend.    

This petition is to request that Correction Service Officers be subjected to disciplinary actions and that an independent inquiry including root cause analysis occur into the circumstance surrounding David Dungay's death. The myth. that Aboriginal people are more prone to violence, and require greater force to subdue needs to be laid bare. The impact of this unconscious institutionalised racist belief,  in the light of increasing black deaths in custody, must be fully explored. 

Rest in Peace David Dungay Jnr. We will not rest, until you receive justice.   

 

avatar of the starter
Karyn MeakerPetition starterI am a non Indigenous child and family consultant in Out-of-Home-Care. I am an activist with keen interests in social justice. I have studied a number of coronial inquests into black deaths in custody. My adopted family are from the Bundjalung Nation.
This petition had 1,833 supporters

The issue

# Warning this footage shows the image of a First Nations person who is now deceased. The content of this footage is traumatising to all First Nations people and those who stand with them.  

On Friday the 22nd November 2019 NSW Deputy Coroner, Derek Lee  handed down his findings into the death of 26-year-old David Dungay Jnr while in custody in December 2015.

Mr Lee rejected a submission from Mr Dungay's family that four Corrective Services NSW officers be referred for disciplinary proceedings.

David Dungay Jnr, died while being restrained, by brute force, by five corrective service officers in Long Bay Prison Hospital,  on the  29th December 2015.  David Jnr. was an Aboriginal man with diabetes and was allowed to have biscuits in his cell, to manage low sugar.

The senior officer did not have the authority to commence the actions against David Jnr, and the officers involved did not follow proper procedures or protocols for restraining an individual. Not one officer questioned the use of force on a man, who was not fighting restraint, but continued to indicate, in terror, that he could not breathe.

The senior officer under questioning was noted to be untruthful, and key information on who initiated the actions was kept from the coronial inquiry as a source of information unkown.   

On the day of his death David Jnr, was eating rice crackers when an unnamed corrective service officer decided he had eaten too many. A response was made to David, with five officers gathered outside his cell door. He was asked to put his hands through the cell door to be hand cuffed within a one minute time frame. He was putting on his shirt when told he was running out of time.

He said "come in, come in". The five officers stormed the cell and all five pinned him with such force that he can be heard screaming in terror 'I can't breathe.'

He is held down for over four minutes screaming repeatedly 'I can't breathe'. Each time his cries where dismissed with 'You are talking you can breathe. You brought this on yourself.'

Wide community outrage for David Dungay, is not evident even though his death, is another in a long line of Black Deaths in Custody. 424 deaths in custody since the Royal Commission into black Deaths in Custody in 1991.

None of the recommendations have been realised and no one has ever been convicted or held to account.

As marginalised people, Aboriginal Australians do not have a voice strong enough, to make Governments accountable for deaths like David Dungay Jnr's That does not mean they aren't able to resist to oppressive treatment, but rather, that when when they do, their peacful resistance is  securing the the Black Lives Matter and Black Deaths in Custody through the efforts of activists like poet playwright Uncle Ken Canning .

Non Aboriginal Australian's  need to dispel the myths, that Aboriginals who die in custody, invite their death by virtue of being in custody. They must also  ask how some one like David Jnr.  can be subdued with such force leading to death, for simply eating too many biscuits and those involved received impunity. Australia's empathy must arise by thinking of  David as if he were our son; grandson, brother; uncle; cousin; father; or friend.    

This petition is to request that Correction Service Officers be subjected to disciplinary actions and that an independent inquiry including root cause analysis occur into the circumstance surrounding David Dungay's death. The myth. that Aboriginal people are more prone to violence, and require greater force to subdue needs to be laid bare. The impact of this unconscious institutionalised racist belief,  in the light of increasing black deaths in custody, must be fully explored. 

Rest in Peace David Dungay Jnr. We will not rest, until you receive justice.   

 

avatar of the starter
Karyn MeakerPetition starterI am a non Indigenous child and family consultant in Out-of-Home-Care. I am an activist with keen interests in social justice. I have studied a number of coronial inquests into black deaths in custody. My adopted family are from the Bundjalung Nation.

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The Decision Makers

Peter Severin
Peter Severin
Commissioner, Corrective Service NSW.
Chris Minns MP
Chris Minns MP
Mr Chris Minns MP Shadow Minister for Corrections
Cotsis Sophie MP
Cotsis Sophie MP
Shadow Minister for Better Public Services
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