Police say man was taken to ground by security before police arrive

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Northern Territory police have confirmed the identity of the 24-year-old aboriginal man who died in police custody in Alice Springs. He was from the remote community of Yuendumu and lived in Alice Springs for a number of years. Police confirmed he was taken to the ground before officers arrived. Once they arrived and placed handcuffs on him, they became aware he was unconscious and started CPR. Prior to the incident at Coles the man was in an altercation with an unknown female who he 'struck on the back'. Northern Territory police gave an update on the investigation earlier.

Transcript

00:00As the investigation has progressed, Northern Charity Police and the Major Crime Team have

00:06collected considerable amounts of evidence from witnesses within the Coles complex.

00:12That includes CCTV footage from within the complex and body-worn video footage that was

00:21being worn by the security guards that were the one that was assaulted initially and the

00:26others that were involved in the incident.

00:30Northern Charity Police can confirm through assessment of those sets of footage that we

00:37can confirm the male was taken to the ground and he remained on the ground for a number

00:41of minutes before General Duty's frontline officers came to the Coles complex, placed handcuffs

00:48on the male and at about this point it was determined that the male had lost consciousness,

00:53the handcuffs were removed, first aid was administered immediately and that did include some CPR.

01:01While St John's were waiting to attend, they arrived, St John's took over the primary care

01:07and as I said yesterday, the male was taken to the Alice Springs Hospital where he was later

01:11declared as deceased.

01:13The Northern Charity Police can confirm that the Northern Charity Pathologist, Forensic Pathologist

01:19has completed the autopsy in relation to this matter and at this stage the cause of death

01:25is undetermined and the pathologist is required to do further investigation to provide any substantive

01:32cause of death to assist the investigation.

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