NT Police were unaware an indigenous teenager shot during a bungled arrest had wanted to return to the alcohol rehabilitation clinic from which he had fled, an inquest has been told.
Kumanjayi Walker, 19, was shot three times by Const Zachary Rolfe during the botched arrest at Yuendumu, north-west of Alice Springs, on November 9, 2019.
Rolfe had been sent with a specialist police unit to apprehend the Warlpiri teenager after he left an Alice Springs alcohol rehabilitation clinic.
NT Deputy Police Commissioner Murray Smalpage said members of the police unit were “unaware” Mr Walker had called the clinic to apologise and ask if he could return.
Mr Smalpage also said police were unaware of Mr Walker’s post traumatic stress disorder symptoms, intellectual disability and partial deafness.
“They weren’t aware of any of (Mr Walker’s) vulnerabilities. (And) they didn’t know that he tried to hand himself in,” he told the inquest at Alice Springs on Wednesday.
Andrew Boe, representing Mr Walker’s family, said he would make submissions to the inquiry about why police had not been given all available information before the arrest.
“How do we look at ways in which arrest attempts properly take into account the known knowledge of that person?” he said.
“How do we improve the capacity to police in communities where there are young people who have cognitive deficiencies, disabilities or language issues?”
Mr Smalpage defended the decision of officers to go to Yuendumu, despite a day earlier criticising how they executed their plan to arrest Mr Walker.
“The truth of the matter is every individual police officer there has discretion about what they’re going to do,” Mr Smalpage said.
“I don’t think we can write a prescriptive order or instruction that provides a simple solution that’s going to resolve all the complexities police officers face across the NT.”
The inquest will continue over the next two weeks, with other members of the NT Police Force and representatives from Territory Families expected to give evidence.
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