I don't think he got those injuries by falling over.

Justice has to be seen to be done.

20th June 2007



A Supreme Court jury in Townsville, north Queensland, has found police officer Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley not guilty of the death of the Palm Island man known as Mulrunji. The case against Senior Sergeant Hurley focused on a struggle and fall at the Palm Island police station on November 19, 2004. Sen Sgt Hurley admitted in court he must have caused Mulrunji's fatal injuries, including cutting his liver in two. The defence argued the injuries were accidental.



Australian justice on show to the world.

CHRIS Hurley - the policeman acquitted of manslaughter over a Palm Island death in custody, only to face a civil claim from the victim's family - received a confidential $100,000 payment from the Queensland Government after the incident.



When autopsy results revealed on November 24, 2004, that Cameron Doomadgee, known in death as Mulrunji, had died of "an intra-abdominal haemorrhage caused by a ruptured liver and portal vein", Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the police station, watchhouse and officer-in-charge's residence.



The officer, Senior Sergeant Hurley, was not on the island at the time. Having arrested the drunk and abusive Mulrunji and hauled him into the watchhouse, Sergeant Hurley was handling Mulrunji when the islander suffered his fatal injuries.



Two weeks after the riots, Sergeant Hurley lodged a claim with the Queensland Police Service for reimbursement of the cost of replacing belongings lost in the fire. Details of the claim were never publicly released.



The documents, released to The Australian after a Freedom of Information request a year ago, show that two weeks after the riots, on December 10, 2004, Sergeant Hurley sent his superiors a memo with a list of personal property believed to have been in the three-bedroom residence when it was burnt down. "This list is as exhaustive as possible from memory alone," Sergeant Hurley wrote. The total of the items on the list came to $102,955, but the items were exempted from release under FOI and will remain secret.



Sergeant Hurley sent a similar memo to the district office the same day, with a smaller list of police property and some personal items, including a Parker pen he valued at about $100, a torch valued at $80, two coffee mugs and a 2004 hardcover diary. [url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/palm-death-cop-got-100000-payout/story-e6frg6oo-1111116462971]Source[/url]



[b]Palm Island officer Chris Hurley promoted while fellow officers face sanctions[/b]

* From: The Courier-Mail * June 17, 2010 1:11AM



THE police officer at the centre of the Palm Island death-in-custody saga has been promoted while fellow officers who protected him face demotion or dismissal.



Senior-Sergeant Chris Hurley, now based on the Gold Coast after being charged and acquitted in 2007 of manslaughter over the death, has held the rank of Acting Inspector when filling in for senior colleagues.



As many as six officers face discipline for misconduct in a scathing 194-page Crime and Misconduct Commission report on the handling of the investigation into the 2004 Palm Island tragedy, to be released today.

This whole affair stinks to high heaven, something had better be done about it, and soon.

I don't think we have been told here or in the papers enough to make a judgement.



The thing is the first report said picked up drunk and abusive and so we have to ask- and no one seems to have done so - had he been in a fight where the injuries could have occurred or some injuries whereby on being gaoled and probably falling all over the place being drunk as reported - he fell and was hurt even more breaking ribs etc - no info on how or where he fell or what he fell on like outstanding desks or furniture that may have caused an injury - people have died just hitting their head only. - so just because he was an abo and the cop was white - is no reason for the left to jump to the conclusion that he was bashed up by whitey as usual.



Problem is the Aboriginal Victim Industry is always at work for getting more benefits for themselves via the victim of any altercation or law changing and this does not help the situation if everyone takes the attitude that it must be the white man who did it. The black man does and that is why never get any reconciliation as it would mean less money. The activists do not want complete integration as this means they are out of a job. Same with the refugee industry which has many lawyers activists employed at our expense.

I can't believe you said that Val, you should have been on the jury.

Racist comments ?

Hurley admitted that he might have landed on Doomadgee's stomach with his knee.

I really do not care what colour their skin is, officers are facing discipline over their handling of the case, looks to me like they were trying to help their big cop mate.

There sure needs to be a more info on this as it stinks to high heaven !

This police-cover up rivals what went on in Underbelly. Bob Atkinson should be kicked out now for looking the other way over this investigation, but what does Anna Bligh do, she reinstates him for another term, and his current term doesn't end until October. What an absolute joke.

.

Two friends of Palm Island policeman Chris Hurley conducted the initial investigation into the death in custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee, gathering key evidence that Queensland's Director of Public Prosecutions relied on to clear him.



One of Sergeant Hurley's friends was Palm Island's detective, Sergeant Darren Robinson, who had previously investigated and dismissed two other serious complaints by Palm Islanders against Sergeant Hurley.



Inspector Webber also appointed Townsville-based Detective Sergeant Raymond Kitching to the investigation.



The three officers, Inspector Webber, Sergeant Kitching and Sergeant Robinson, were in Townsville the day Doomadgee died in November 2004 and within hours were on their way to Palm Island.



Sergeant Hurley greeted them at the airport. That night, after they conducted an initial interview of Sergeant Hurley to throw open the now controversial case, the men enjoyed a meal and beers at Sergeant Hurley's house.



Evidence to a coronial inquest into Doomadgee's death found that the officers failed to secure the scene where the injury that claimed his life occurred.



The inquest was also told that the officers were involved in off-the-record discussions with Sergeant Hurley during their investigation.



In his initial interview, Sergeant Hurley was never asked if he had assaulted Doomadgee and no suggestion that an assault may have taken place was made to the pathologist conducting the first autopsy.



The officers remained in charge of the investigation for the first six days after Doomadgee's death - it was taken over by the state's Crime and Misconduct Commission after the results of the first autopsy were made public, causing riots on Palm Island.



Crucially, in that first interview, Sergeant Hurley made no mention of trying to lift a drunk Doomadgee from the floor of the Palm Island watchhouse, or using words to the effect: "Get up, Mr Doomadgee."



That version of events was given in later interviews - after Sergeant Hurley had off-the-record discussions with investigators - in response to an independent witness's claims that he saw Sergeant Hurley punching Doomadgee on the ground, asking: "Do you want more?."



It is Sergeant Hurley's claim to have fallen with Doomadgee while struggling to get him into a cell that is pivotal to the opinion of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, that Doomadgee's death was the result of a "tragic, tragic accident".



Ms Clare - who has maintained her silence since announcing last week that Sergeant Hurley would not be prosecuted - believed she had to "act on evidence, not emotion".



Yet three months earlier, Deputy Coroner Christine Clements - who found Sergeant Hurley responsible for Doomadgee's death, and the four broken ribs and torn liver he suffered during his arrest - was highly critical of the initial police investigation.



In her report, Ms Clements notes that Sergeant Kitching "seemingly suggests" to Sergeant Hurley, during the first interview, how the fall occurred leading into station.



"So you tripped over a step, is that right?" Sergeant Kitching asked.



"Over the step as we came in - there's a step there," Sergeant Hurley responded.



At the time of the incident another man, Mr Bramwell, was sitting inside the station, and could see only part of the action. He was being questioned over serious assault charges.



He testified during the inquest that he saw Sergeant Hurley's elbow rise three times and fall as though he was punching his prisoner on the floor, at the same time yelling, "Have you had enough yet, Mr Doomadgee, Have you had enough yet? Do you want more?"



When Mr Bramwell was interviewed, and went through a re-enactment, Sergeant Hurley - yet to be interviewed for a second time - was within earshot, sitting in his office only metres away.



In later interviews, Sergeant Hurley would tell the investigators the "elbow" action was him trying to grab Doomadgee's shirt to pull him up.



Inspector Webber - accompanied by Inspector Mark Williams from the Queensland police ethical standards command - also conducted interviews with Mr Bengaroo (police liaison officer), who was criticised by Ms Clements for not telling all he saw.



Mr Bengaroo said he stayed at the door of the paddy wagon and saw nothing. "I just stood here because I was thinking, um, if I see something, I might get into trouble myself or something. The family might harass me or something, you know."



Doomadgee, limp on the concrete floor, was lifted and carried or dragged by Sergeant Hurley and another officer, Sergeant Michael Leafe, into a cell, sharing it with another unconscious prisoner. He was not medically examined, assessed or physically searched (the pathologist found a cigarette lighter in his pocket at the autopsy).



Doomadgee, according to the surveillance video, was calling out for help and writhing in pain. He died within an hour.



Sergeant Robinson, who had worked with Sergeant Hurley for two years on Palm Island, took the statements from Mr Bramwell.



The CMC is investigating an allegation that Sergeant Robinson threatened Mr Bramwell that "if anything happens to Hurley, you're next".

Extract from news.com.au

How feeble can you get, tripped over the step and the “elbow” action was him trying to grab Doomadgee’s shirt to pull him up. Yeah, right!

Whilst ever we have different laws for black and white which we have because of the Aboriginal victim activist industry - encouraged by the left who teach white guilt to our children (for stealing the land off of the first immigrants who stayed long enough to be here when Capt Cook arrived) - we will have police who resent the fact that whatever they do they are wrong and cant win.



Now we also have other races who play the race card all the time and this is not conducive to peaceful cohabitation.





It is all too little too late - he said and she said etc - and one lesson for any Police Station today is to have camera's everywhere inside and out to record - keep them on their toes knowing on camera - with audio in places but not known to staff and record any happenings without bias.

Only then will the rumours and accusations biased or truthful die down and the Cops get on with doing their jobs.



As for Palm Island - get more Aboriginal Police in to help police it.

Human nature says will sort out much of the problem there and elsewhere too. Works for other countries.

Some people like to put others who disagree with their point of view into little boxes like he belongs to the "right" or she belongs to the "left". Others are colourblind and just want to know the truth. Sergeant Chris Hurley is an animal who should be charged with murder.

The Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) says the police officer at the centre of a death in custody in north Queensland six years ago is facing new investigations.



The CMC has confirmed it is investigating compensation claims Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley lodged when the Palm Island Police Station and residence were burned down during rioting in 2004.



The riots broke out after Cameron Doomadgee's death in the watch-house and it is alleged Senior Sergeant Hurley received more than $100,000 in three claims.



The crime fighting watchdog is also investigating findings from a coronial inquiry that Senior Sergeant Hurley colluded with a fellow officer and changed his evidence after becoming aware of a witness statement.



The CMC says it is considering all the material and whether there is a case to answer.



The case is back in the spotlight after the CMC released a report this week condemning the police investigation in the death.



It found a lack of reliable evidence meant it could not ascertain whether Senior Sergeant Hurley deliberately or accidentally caused Mr Doomadgee's death.



They know Hurley is guilty but can't prove it.

Doomadgee died from massive injuries while with Hurley who is 6ft 7 and built like a barn.

If Hurley was not in the police force, he would be in jail by now. Corruption at it's best.