on October 24.
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Another death of an Aboriginal man potentially involving police in the Northern Territory has sparked calls for an inquiry and urgent action to stop police harassment and brutality.
Mr E Lewis, a Warlpiri man living in Katherine, passed away shortly after being released from police custody on September 23.
Mr Lewis was a diabetic amputee, who was held in custody for more than 24 hours. He died in his sleep shortly after being released.
Family of Mr Lewis say there are many witnesses alleging he was treated roughly during his arrest, which occurred during a large card game in Katherine.
They also say that before his death, Mr Lewis had complained about being dragged and kicked in custody, along with being denied food, water and medication.
Mr Lewis鈥 sister Dorris is demanding a coronial inquiry to examine the circumstances of the death. She has been unable to find out the cause of death. 鈥淲e need for there to be a full inquiry into this death,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough for the police to be in charge of the investigation. We feel only with an inquiry will we see the truth. And we need to see the CCTV footage from the cell right now.
鈥淢any witnesses, non-Indigenous people too, have told our family that he was treated very roughly when he was taken into custody. He was dragged and thrown. They didn鈥檛 care that he only had one leg.
鈥淏efore he passed away, my brother was telling his family that he had also been treated very roughly in the watch house. He also said that he had not been fed or given drink or any medication. He could hardly sit up when he got home.
鈥淎fter he had struggled to eat some food he went to sleep and passed away.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 just let this go. We believe that the police must be held responsible. Unless there is some justice, they will just keep treating our people like this. The responsible officers need to be sacked for how they treated my brother.
鈥淚n 2004, we lost another family member from the police. They ran him over like a dog. All they did was pay some money and that was forgotten, no police got charged. This wouldn鈥檛 happen to a non-Indigenous person. We need justice to be done for these deaths or it will keep happening.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 see that the police are here to keep Australia in peace, or keep our town safe. Some police are nice and doing a good, real job. But others are going around dragging and bashing Aboriginal people and mistreating whether they are drunk or sober. We feel that they are doing criminal things themselves but always get away with it. Why can鈥檛 we all treat each other with respect in this country and live as one?鈥
Patricia Morton-Thomas, spokesperson for the family of Kwementyaye Briscoe, who died in police custody in January, visited the family of Mr Lewis in Katherine. Ms Morton-Thomas has pledged to fight to uncover the truth about his death and see that justice is done.
鈥淭his is now the fifth death in suspicious circumstances involving police or corrections staff since 2009 and the body count is unacceptable,鈥 Morton-Thomas said. 鈥淭he Northern Territory government must do something urgently about the brutality and harassment that our people are experiencing at the hands of the police.
鈥淒espite what happened to my nephew, my family's consistent calls for justice and for the police department to change their ways, they are ignoring us and continuing with their inhumane treatment of Aboriginal people.
鈥淲e encourage all families who are victims of police brutality to join with us in the call for justice.鈥
[For more information phone Dorris Lewis 0467 044 795, Patricia Morton-Thomas 0432 612 105.]