{"id":822619,"date":"2026-05-26T05:40:25","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T05:40:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822619\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T05:40:25","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T05:40:25","slug":"kumanjayi-whites-family-told-no-charges-to-be-laid-against-officers-involved-in-death-in-police-custody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/822619\/","title":{"rendered":"Kumanjayi White’s family told no charges to be laid against officers involved in death in police custody"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and an illustration of an Indigenous person who has died, used with the permission of their family.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NT Police are providing an update about the investigation into the death of Kumanjayi White, a 24-year-old Warlpiri man who died after being restrained by two police officers in an Alice Springs supermarket last May.<\/p>\n

It comes after Kumanjayi White’s family told the ABC that Northern Territory Police say no charges will be laid over his death, a day before the one-year anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

NT Police are holding a press conference to provide further information about the decision not to lay charges over Kumanjayi White’s death in police custody.<\/p>\n

Tue 26 May 2026 at 3:32pm<\/p>\n

Tue 26 May 2026 at 3:32pm<\/p>\n

NT Police to speak about Kumanjayi White investigation<\/p>\n

Good afternoon, thank you for joining us.<\/p>\n

Northern Territory Police<\/b> will be standing up at 3pm local time in Alice Springs<\/b> to provide an update on the investigation into the death in police custody of Kumanjayi White<\/b>.<\/p>\n

We’ll bring you updates from the press conference.<\/p>\n

For those not familiar with this case, Kumanjayi White<\/b> was a 24-year-old Warlpiri<\/b> man who died on May 27 last year after being restrained by two police officers, following an alleged confrontation with security guards inside a Coles supermarket<\/b> in the Alice Springs CBD<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi White’s family said they were informed by police of the outcome of the death in custody investigation and subsequent use-of-force inquiry today, after police reportedly made a last-minute plane trip to his mother’s family’s community in Lajamanu to tell them the news.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, his family said: “We have got no hope. When will we have our justice? How can we keep living like this?”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi White’s death in May 2025 sparked vigils in Alice Springs and across the country. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

“Today the police turned up in Lajamanu with the acting director of public prosecutions and told the family that they are not proceeding with any charges.<\/p>\n

“With hardly any notice, without asking permission, they just turned up in Lajamanu with their police plane.”<\/p>\n

The family said they were also in sorry business \u2014 cultural grieving \u2014 for Kumanjayi Little Baby, and they were feeling “grief, on top of grief, on top of grief”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Red<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi White’s family say police travelled to Lajamanu to inform them of the news. (ABC News: Stephanie Zillman)<\/p>\n

“There was not time for anybody else to get here, as far as we know, they didn’t tell the father’s family \u2014 who are all in Alice Springs for sorry business for Kumanjayi Little Baby,” the family statement said.<\/p>\n

“We’re heartbroken, we’re angry.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“We are going into blackout for a week \u2014 media, stay away from us, we’re not giving you anything more.<\/p>\n

“We are sick of bring treated unequally \u2014 Wajumpa.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Mourners left flowers outside the supermarket where Kumanjayi White died, in the wake of his passing. (ABC News: Xavier Martin)<\/p>\n

In a statement, an NT Police spokesperson said they could “confirm the Director of Public Prosecutions had provided advice regarding the investigation into the death of Kumanjayi White”.<\/p>\n

“Senior police have spoken directly with the family and officers involved earlier today,” they said.<\/p>\n

“We recognise this will be an emotional day for many people across the Northern Territory and ask the community to respond peacefully and respectfully.”<\/p>\n

Police are expected to hold a press conference later this afternoon to provide further information about the decision.<\/p>\n

A lengthy investigation process<\/p>\n

The slow pace of the investigation into Kumanjayi White’s death has drawn criticism from his family, some politicians and community members over the past year.<\/p>\n

\"Senior<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi Walker’s grandfather Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves has repeatedly called for the CCTV footage from the day to be released. (ABC News: Michael Franchi)<\/p>\n

Kumanjayi White’s grandfather, Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, has also made repeated calls for the investigation to be conducted independently of NT Police, for CCTV of the incident to be released, and for the officers involved in the incident to be stood down.<\/p>\n

The report of a use-of-force investigation, conducted by an unspecified interstate police force, was given to NT Police and the NT Director of Public Prosecutions last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the time, police said the report was being assessed and would form part of an evidentiary brief provided to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).<\/p>\n

The DPP has also been contacted for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and an illustration of an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":822620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[338112,338114,338113,338110,4740,60323,338115,338109,50,13263,338111,37728],"class_list":["post-822619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-aboriginal-death-in-custody","tag-aboriginal-death-nt","tag-alice-springs-coles-death","tag-alice-springs-death-in-custody","tag-australia","tag-death-in-custody","tag-disability-death","tag-kumanjayi-white","tag-news","tag-nt","tag-nt-death-in-custody","tag-nt-police"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116639278523095273","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822619","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=822619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}