Police bashing whitewashed
By Chris Martin
SYDNEY -- The Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee is calling for justice for Edward John Russell, an Aboriginal man who was brutally bashed by police near Oberon, outside Bathurst, on last December 11.
The Watch Committee has described as “inadequate and improper” a Police Internal Affairs investigation which concluded recently by clearing all police involved.
A local grazier, Milton Curnuck, witnessed the savage attack on Russell, which took place after a car chase. Russell, who is developmentally delayed, had to be X-rayed after the beating, in which police rammed his head into the side of a car.
He was later arrested and taken to Bathurst police station, where he reported being sworn at and mistreated. Police also refused his request to contact friends and relatives.
The witness contacted the watch committee with copies of a press statement and letter he had published in the Oberon Review reporting the assault. The committee is pursuing the matter with the ombudsman using this evidence and its own information on the incident.
Its criticism of the Internal Affairs investigation centres on the failure of the investigating officer to interview Russell's relatives or to obtain relevant medical reports of his injuries from Bathurst hospital.
The watch committee cites this as another demonstration of the futility of police investigating police on assaults against Aboriginal people.
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