Inquest into the death of Asera aka Ezra Young
Deceased
Asera aka Ezra Young
Demographics
70y, male
Date of death
2016-03-30
Finding date
2018-04-06
Cause of death
blunt force head injury (operated)
AI-generated summary
A 70-year-old Torres Strait Islander man died from blunt force head injury sustained when police forcibly woke and directed him to leave a private residence where he was sleeping. Police lacked legal powers to intervene: the man was not trespassing and no breach of peace occurred. After being woken and told to leave by police, he stumbled over a sleeping person and struck his head on a wall, suffering subdural and extradural haematomas requiring emergency neurosurgery. He remained in ICU for 12 days before dying. The coroner found police duty of care was inadequate, exceeded their powers, failed to recognize it as a custody incident, and demonstrated either misunderstanding or disregard for the law. Critical lessons: police must understand limits of their powers; establish identity before forcefully rousing intoxicated elderly persons; provide adequate supervision during exit from hazardous environments; and recognize custody incidents promptly to enable proper investigation and record-keeping.
AI-generated summary and tagging — may contain inaccuracies; refer to original finding for legal purposes.
Error types
Drugs involved
Clinical conditions
Contributing factors
- police exceeded their legal powers
- forceful waking of deeply sleeping intoxicated elderly man
- inadequate duty of care by police
- inadequate assessment and supervision during exit from premises
- hazardous environment with trip hazards and poor lighting
- inadequate time given to wake and orient
- failure to recognize custody incident
Coroner's recommendations
- The Commissioner of Police should provide instruction and training to police in relation to the limits of their powers under the Police Administration Act and the Trespass Act and the appropriate procedure to follow in similar circumstances
- The Commissioner of Police should provide instruction and training to police in relation to their duty of care to persons being 'moved on'
- The Commissioner of Police should provide instruction and training to police so it is understood that persons in the control of police are categorised as being in police custody for the purposes of Police Custody Incident and Illness Reports and the reporting of deaths to the Coroner
Full text
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