Death on edge of custody demands new mindset for NT police
Walker, 19, stabbed former police constable Zachary Rolfe with a pair of scissors and was shot three times during an attempted arrest in the remote community of Yuendumu, 300 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs in November 2019. Rolfe was later charged with murder, manslaughter and engaging in a violent act causing death and acquitted by an NT Supreme Court jury in 2022.
NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage spent nearly three years inquiring into the shooting and found she could not exclude the possibility that, in addition having distain for 'the bosses', a lack of respect for women, contempt for bush police and an attraction to adrenaline-style policing, Rolfe's racist views had contributed to the fatal shooting.
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'Mr Rolfe was racist, and he worked in and benefited from an organisation with the hallmarks of institutional racism,' Armitage said. 'While it was not possible for me to say with certainty that Mr Rolfe's racist attitudes were operative in his decisions on 9 November or were a contributing cause of Kumanjayi's death, I cannot exclude that possibility. That I cannot exclude that possibility is a tragedy for Kumanjayi's family and community, who will always believe that racism played an integral part in his death and is a taint that may stain the NT police.'
She warned NT Police should not consider Rolfe the only 'bad apple' as his racist language and attitudes were found among fellow police in Alice Springs. Further, she condemned the failure of police and health authorities to coordinate movements so that there was no adequate medical care available at Yuendumu to treat Walker as he lay dying. She also made 32 recommendations, including investigating recruitment processes, carrying weapons in communities and strengthening NT Police anti-racism strategies and an investigation into internal NT Police complaints.
The coroner's findings are another shameful indication of the Northern Territory's deplorable record on imposing law and order.
Nine years ago, the ABC's Four Corners program exposed atrocities being enacted on children at Darwin's Don Dale youth detention centre, including use of restraint chairs and spit hoods. The resulting national outrage prompted then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull to foist a royal commission onto a recalcitrant NT government. The commission report in 2017 recommended the centre's immediate closure. The Darwin administration got around to shifting the children out only last year.
Since the age of 13, Kumanjayi Walker had spent six months each year in some form of custody. Armitage spoke of his history of alcohol and drug abuse. This NAIDOC Week, her findings are another poignant reminder of the disproportionate weight carried by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in dealings with NT Police. This may be a regional tragedy but the Territory government must move decisively to reflect national values.
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Credit: Emma Kellaway, NITV Tendency to rush in Ms Armitage said she shared the view expressed by experienced senior police officers who said that this was a case of 'officer induced jeopardy', an expression that describes situations where officers 'needlessly put themselves in danger'; making themselves and others vulnerable and creating a situation that justifies the use of deadly force. "Mr Rolfe had a tendency to rush into situations to get his man without regard for his and others' safety, and in disregard of his training," she said. "He had a tendency to seek out situations in which force would be necessary, because he found combat situations exhilarating, and had an interest in adrenaline-style policing." The coroner found, rather than follow the arrest plan prepared by Sergeant Julie Frost, the officer in charge at Yuendumu, Mr Rolfe, who was a member of the Immediate Response Team (IRT), deliberately ignored it. Mr Rolfe thought he knew better than Sergeant Frost and that his superiority would be demonstrated when he led the IRT to "grab up Kumanjayi" on the night of November 9, rather than wait until the next day, as the arrest plan had said, the coroner reported. And Mr Rolfe ignored his training on minimising risk, when he entered house 511 and attempted to identify Kumanjayi, the coroner found, saying he had used one hand to hold his phone close to Kumanjayi's head, leaving part of his body exposed. "Mr Rolfe told Kumanjayi to place his hands behind his back," the report says. "Kumanjayi reacted immediately and began to struggle; he took a small pair of scissors from his pocket and moved in a downwards stabbing motion towards Mr Rolfe. "It appears that Mr Rolfe blocked the strike with his left arm, and the blow landed on his left shoulder, which caused a minor penetrating injury of the collarbone area." In response to Kumanjayi's struggle, Constable Eberl said 'Stop it, mate,' and struck him on the side of the face. "Mr Rolfe stepped back, removed his Glock 40 Calibre pistol from his holster and, without warning, fired one round into Kumanjayi's back," the report says, adding it was lucky Constable Eberl was not also shot. After the first shot, both Kumanjayi and Constable Eberl fell to the ground, with the police officer on top of Kumanjayi and holding him down. "Mr Rolfe then moved forward and fired two more rounds into the side of Kumanjayi's torso, which entered his chest at close range, while Kumanjayi lay beneath Constable Eberl. "Kumanjayi continued to struggle for a brief period, and was then handcuffed before the scissors were removed from his right hand ... "At no time did Mr Rolfe issue a standard warning prior to discharging his Glock pistol. "Two of the three gun shots passed through major organs and a little over an hour later, Kumanjayi passed away from his wounds." Ms Armitage reports that in the months before Kumanjayi's death, Mr Rolfe had filmed his own official body-worn video of forceful arrests and replayed it to colleagues and sent it to family and friends. "He did so to boast about his dynamic arrests and to engage in banter about his superior physicality and tactical skill," she said. By the middle of 2019, NT Police was on notice that Mr Rolfe needed closer supervision, as multiple complaints had been made on behalf of Aboriginal arrest targets that he had used excessive force, sometimes causing head injuries, and these complaints were (or ought to have been) under investigation. "It should have been obvious that action was required to minimise the potential risk to the public posed by what appeared to be (at best) Mr Rolfe's 'overexuberance', his tendency to rush in and his reluctance to follow rules," Ms Armitage reports. "In the absence of appropriate oversight, Mr Rolfe's tactics were tacitly (and sometimes expressly) approved. "Further, two sergeants who were supposed to be mentoring and supervising him joined in his use of racist language and praised Mr Rolfe's superiority over 'bush cops' or other officers they derided. "That too contributed to Mr Rolfe's sense of superiority and their behaviour provides important context for understanding why Mr Rolfe ignored Sgt Frost and substituted his own ill-conceived and hasty approach for Kumanjayi's arrest." The coroner made 32 recommendations, including that NT Police strengthen their anti-racism strategy and make it public. "The NT police force must take steps through its training, supervision, culture and leadership to ensure racist attitudes do not develop, and if they do, they are identified and corrected and are not tolerated or condoned," she said. "Concerning racism, there was direct evidence of clearly racist comments made by Mr Rolfe and between Mr Rolfe and his superiors in the lead up to Kumanjayi's death, ... text messages that ... contained extremely racist names and references to Aboriginal people." Ms Armitage paid her condolences to Kumanjayi's family and community and said he was loved and missed. "Kumanjayi's family members accept his frailties and vulnerabilities, they urge me to remember him for his humanity and to acknowledge the whole person they have lost," she said. In her testimony Kumanjayi's kinship mother, Leanne Oldfield, told the inquiry that she goes to Yuendumu to visit and clean the grave, put new flowers in. "Sometimes when I go for one night, I sleep at memory house," she said. "Then in the morning I go visit to graveyard, clean all the grasses, clean the yard. "I take Kumanjayi's dog, Red, with me when I go. "Having Red gives me a little bit of happy. "But sometimes, I get lonely. "Kumanjayi was my only son."
