{"id":716094,"date":"2026-04-09T16:24:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/716094\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:24:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:24:23","slug":"police-investigation-underway-after-officer-pushes-indigenous-woman-to-the-ground-during-arrest-in-broome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/716094\/","title":{"rendered":"Police investigation underway after officer pushes Indigenous woman to the ground during arrest in Broome"},"content":{"rendered":"

West Australian police have launched an internal investigation after footage emerged online showing an officer pushing a woman to the ground in the state’s far north.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 4-minute footage, which is shot from a distance, shows 37-year-old Evelyn Sampi standing beside three officers who were restraining a man on the ground on a cul-de-sac in Broome on Tuesday night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An officer who arrives on the scene walks over to Ms Sampi and pushes her, causing her to fall and hit the pavement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He then walks over to a group of bystanders, while Ms Sampi gets up off the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"back<\/p>\n

Video footage of the incident was shared on social media.\u00a0 (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)<\/p>\n

The officer and Ms Sampi, <\/strong>who is still standing near the officers restraining the man, appear to have a verbal exchange and he walks back towards her and pushes her away. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The conversation between Ms Sampi and the officer cannot be heard on the video.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police allege interference<\/p>\n

WA police allege Ms Sampi was interfering with police while they were responding to an incident, in which a man was resisting arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“[The woman] allegedly interfered with police while they were performing their lawful duties, grabbing officers from behind as they managed a violent situation,” police said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Evelyn Sampi says she hit the pavement hard. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)<\/p>\n

“Additional officers attended the scene and pushed the woman away, causing her to fall to the ground.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Ms Sampi said she was trying to stop the officers because she was concerned about the way her relative, who lives with a mental health condition, was being restrained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“He was trying to fight back, but he was handcuffed,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was like, ‘Hey, what’s wrong with you? Get off him’ and I was trying to get them off him and they were telling me to leave him alone, let us do our job.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They don’t have to be like that.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police allege the man became aggressive and assaulted two officers, causing them minor injuries.<\/p>\n

Ms Sampi claims she was threatened with arrest by another officer as she tried to intervene.<\/p>\n

“Then he just pushed me, he pushed me pretty hard, because I flew from a metre away and nearly hit my head on another vehicle with a towbar,”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

she said.<\/p>\n

Ms Sampi said she hurt her elbow and back in the incident, but WA Police said she did not report any injuries.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Glenys and Evelyn Sampi say they were concerned by the officer’s conduct. (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)<\/p>\n

A call for help\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Sampi’s mother Glenys Sampi told the ABC she phoned the police for help on Tuesday evening, when she became concerned about the relative’s allegedly aggressive behaviour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She said the situation escalated after police arrived and he was handcuffed on the ground with “two cops on him”.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Glenys Sampi says she called police for help on Tuesday evening.\u00a0 (ABC Kimberley: Dunja Karagic)<\/p>\n

Glenys Sampi said her daughter was trying to get the police officers off their relative, when another officer “pushed her real hard, where she had a fall and nearly cracked her head.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evelyn Sampi said she thought the police response was not appropriate.<\/p>\n

“Four or five other paddy wagons pulled up just for one person and not that he had any weapons or any guns or anything like that, so that was terrible,” she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police lay charges<\/p>\n

WA Police have charged Evelyn Sampi with two counts of obstructing public officers and possessing drug paraphernalia in or on which there was a prohibited drug or plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The man has been charged with two counts of assaulting a public officer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She is due to face court later this month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police Minister Reece Whitby said while he had not seen the video, he was aware of the incident and an internal police investigation had begun.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Reece Whitby says while he has not seen the video, he is aware an internal inquiry is underway.\u00a0 (ABC News: Courtney Withers)<\/p>\n

“Police have certain responsibilities and obligations in the way they conduct themselves but also they’re on the front lines,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So it’s not an easy job but they still need to ensure they do it in the right way.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ms Sampi said she was considering legal action against the officer who pushed her.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"West Australian police have launched an internal investigation after footage emerged online showing an officer pushing a woman…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":716095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[241684,4740,163761,297650,50,297647,14370,915,297648,297649],"class_list":["post-716094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander","tag-australia","tag-broome","tag-evelyn-sampi","tag-news","tag-police-concern","tag-wa-police","tag-western-australia","tag-western-australian-police","tag-woman-shoved"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116375681541004492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=716094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}