Collin Burling was remembered by his partner Taite Collins and friends at a moving memorial on July 15 at Daniel Solander Tower in Waterloo.
Collin died last year on July 15 at 2.14am, after NSW Police assaulted and restrained him. The 45-year old had called firefighters because of a gas leak. They decided he was suffering a mental health episode and called an ambulance.
Collins had been filming the incident from an apartment above. He told Green Left that Collin had been homeless from the age of 15 and that his Waterloo apartment “was the first secure house” he had had.
“He was bright, funny, energetic and very fit. He loved skateboarding and did everything for our two dogs. We were both worried about the gas smell. We’d get bad headaches. He had to open the front door and that was hard because he didn’t feel safe.”
Collin was heading to the ambulance but before he reached it, he was forced on to the ground by four police with their knees to his back. While Collin was crying out “I can’t breathe” and begging them to stop, police covered him with a white sheet — restricting his vision and that of witnesses.
Collin suffered a cardiac arrest and died.
“I had cops beat on my door and threaten to kill me after they killed Collin,” Collins said. He said police had tempered with the video footage he had on his phone and that Homes NSW dumped all of Collin’s possessions into a skip. “I was trying to salvage some of our belongings, a photo of ourselves, for example.”
Collins said he has tried to get a transfer away from Waterloo, because of the painful memories, but Homes NSW has ignored his request. “No-one from any government department has reached out to help me in any way … every department that has reached out has re-traumatised me,” Collins said. He said the gas leak continues and other tenants are now complaining.
Collins and Judy Deacon, the mother of Jesse Deacon, who was also killed in custody in a public housing estate in 2023, are organising a rally on July 18 at 1pm at Sydney Town Hall to remember their loved ones and demand change.
They are calling for justice, restitution and compensation. They want police and emergency services to be made accountable. Specifically, they say a government-funded mental health-first responder must replace police and a mental health response hotline be set up.
[Rachel Evans is a public housing campaigner and is running for Socialist Alliance in the seat of Heffron in the NSW elections.]