The mother of a young man who died after being arrested in Toowoomba says reading a statement "tailored" to the police service would have defeated its purpose.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The inquest has spent four days examining the circumstances of Mr Nixon-McKellar’s death in October 2021 after a police officer applied a lateral vascular neck restraint on him.
The lawyer representing the family, Stewart Levitt, told the inquest his clients did not wish to make a statement that was "tailored" to the Queensland Police Service.
“It makes attacks on the reputations of police officers and institutions in a very direct sense … which is not the usual approach in victim impact statements,” Mr Greggery said.
He, along with lawyers representing the Queensland Police Service, advocated to adjourn the matter to the morning to allow time to reach an agreement, but ultimately Mr Nixon-McKellar’s family did not wish to proceed.
Mr Leavers told the inquest that while the restraint could now only be used if an officer was at risk of death or grievous bodily harm, police should still be trained in its use.
While neither pathologist pointed directly to the restraint as the cause of death, Dr Collins told the inquest he didn’t believe the manoeuvre was necessary given Mr Nixon-McKellar’s exhausted state.
The original article contains 619 words, the summary contains 180 words. Saved 71%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
The family’s grief is understandable but an inquest is not the right time to express it.
It sounds like they wanted to make accusations in the inquest based on the vibe, when they’re supposed to be talking about the impact on themselves.