Western Australian police officers turned a blind eye to the injured after they were charged with wounding. (photo by Western Australia Today)
A number of police officers at the (Fremantle) police station in Freeman, WA, allegedly detained a woman for up to five hours after causing a dislocation of her buttocks, citing the woman`s inability to stand and facilitate police to collect her fingerprints. At present, a number of police officers involved in the matter have been charged with serious malfeasance.
The incident took place on New year`s Eve in 2017, when the woman`s daughter was stopped by police and tested for breath alcohol, according to the Western Australia Daily Today.
Duncan (alias Duncan,) asked a police officer if he could take a breath test and, if nothing happened, drive his car home, but the officer refused. A dispute ensued between the two sides. Closed-circuit video shows another officer present at the scene saying Duncan was injured in his knee-to-buttocks.
Duncan was then taken back to Freeman police station, where closed-circuit footage showed she was unable to walk or straighten her legs. When police locked her up in detain`s room, Duncan shouted in pain and told himself "not pretending" but "really hurting."
The police ignored her and searched Duncan when she fell to the ground. She was ridiculed when she was taken to another glass-mounted detain room and shouted to a female police officer for help.
When another officer came to take Duncan to the cell to collect her fingerprints and DNA, the woman complained to Duncan about assault police and refused to accept the fingerprints. After Duncan told the officer he couldn`t stand, the man then called an ambulance for her.
The West Australian Police Commissioner, Dawson (Chris Dawson), said the officers who finally helped Ms. Duncan do what she was supposed to do five hours ago by the officers who first received her. Before the last police officer appeared, none of the police officers believed that Ms. Duncan might actually be injured, he said, but the video showed that her face was distorted by pain every time she stepped up a step.
Dawson pointed out that the right of access to medical care of detain personnel is not the "mercy" given by the police, but is the inherent statutory rights of every Australian citizen.
Duncan then filed a complaint online about the matter. Western Australia`s Anti-Corruption Commission (Corruption and Crime Commission) released an investigation report on the incident on Thursday, comparing Duncan`s story with that of Ms. (Ms Dhu), an Australian aboriginal, who was neglected by the police in 2014. Dohu died of injuries while suffering from detain.
The anti-corruption commission`s report said the way the police treated Ms. Duncan at the time was oppressive, unfair and contrary to law rules and constituted a serious malfeasance.
