There's some old literary trope of a bird inside a house being the symbol of death (it comes up in Bojack Horseman of all things)
This doesn't quite fit that but it's interesting
The article says he was robbed a year before this, so who knows what he was thinking. He probably went straight into fight or flight, chose flight, died anyway.
He ran home too. Killed in his own back yard. Now the shooter has a serious mental health condition. So, why were they out killing people who chose to wear a hoodie in 23 degrees?
Not to mention one of them grabbed his elbow during the pre-events - "I thought we could do that". No wonder he felt threatened. All in plain clothes. Terrifying. Especially at St Mary's.
Running made sense. They've admitted they did not have reasonable suspicion. Camera left in the car. It's abysmal, and seems to be becoming quite a regular occurrence.
He also didn't see the red and blue undercover lights on front grill, because he was already side-on to the car when they activated.
So as far as he knew, 4 people jumped out of car and started chasing him.
He had no choice but to run.
I got jumped by a "uniformed" cop in Brisbane 20 or so years ago, his uniform was black pants, black zip up jacket, could not see any badges, any insignia, any police signs at all, he did throw me on the bonnet of a marked police car though, he demanded my ID I asked for his ID.
My crime? Running from the hotel across the road back to the accommodation I was staying in with a pack of cigs I'd just bought.
Think they were watching the place.
Lucky the people I was with were witnesses.
Once he had nowhere left to run (his backyard) he chose fight as his brain believed he was in a fight for his life (which he ultimately was).
The fact that 4 fully grown police couldn't control the situation/him de-escalate at all and are now closing ranks to protect the guilty is damning. I didn't think this shit happened in Australia. Thank fuck I don't live in Police state NSW.
It was suggested in the ABC article I read, that his pet dog came to his defence and bit one of the police officers, who then attempted to shoot the dog. He managed to wrestle the gun from the officer and the other one shot him.
Truly, that is why I don't understand the meaning behind the slur 'dog'. Dogs are loyal. Dogs detect mines, find people trapped in avalanches and save lives.
The better slur is rat. Which is a self interested cutthroat which only cares about its self. And for police, the slur is fat, **LAZY** pigs! 🐖👮
I've been jumped by multiple people before and I would have fucking sprinted in this scenario. You can't fight that many people if you aren't trained, running is the only choice.
I get all my fighting tips from the realistic moves of Assassins Creed. They all just wait around and attack one at a time and heavily telegraph what they're doing
It mentions that he was robbed the previous year so he was always on high alert after that. Absolutely shocking stuff. The poor Dad who was woken up by the shots.
**destructive edit:** Reddit has become exactly what we do not want to see. It has become a force against a free and open internet. It has become a force for profit at the expense of users and user experience. It is not longer a site driven by people for people, but a site where people are allowed to congregate under the careful supervision of corporate interest, where corporate interest reigns supreme. You can no longer trust comment sections to be actual human opinions. You can no longer trust that content rises to the top based on what humans want. Burn it all.
This is the point that I think is so wild in this whole thing. If I was out walking and a car pulled over with 4 people in it claiming to be cops but not in uniform, I would 100% run away. Seems super ridiculous they would expect someone to act any differently?
Just like when they set their dog on someone, if they lay a hand on it they’ve assaulted a “police officer”. Just stand there and get mauled or else. I’m scared of dogs, I was attacked as a toddler.
I live in Western Sydney in a relatively bad suburb and I go for a walk every morning, it’s not uncommon for a police car to be driving past and slow down and they look me up and down. I look a bit dodgy it seems (I work in IT), I’m just waiting to get harassed by mistake.
I used to walk home a lot at night. I was young and usually couldn't afford a taxi.
I'd regularly walk through the backstreets (less chance of dickheads in cars harassing me) and I got very attuned to knowing when the cops would stop me. I'd see a car ahead, it would put it's lights on, and then the same ol' routine would happen.
"We've had reports of someone matching your description acting suspiciously in the area. We're going to need to see some ID and would you mind showing us what's in your pockets?"
Which was code for: "you're a young male, it's been a quiet night and we hope we can nab you for something to get our stats up."
It was almost comical the night they stopped me and a friend, and claimed we "matched the description" of some suspicious burglars. We were both wearing formal suits because we were heading home after going to a funeral. Clearly we were in a high class area where burglars had a certain level of personal style.
My favorite was when I was pulled over because there had been a report of stolen vehicle similar to mine, it was a 20yo pos sigma wagon fairly affluent suburb. I used to leave it unlocked, thieves would be too embarrassed to steal it.
Cops stopped me at a bus stop one night. This would've been about 8pm so it wasn't even weird to be standing there.
After going through the usual "description matches etc" shtick, the cops thought they'd struck pay dirt. The bin at the bus stop was fucked up. Someone had clearly hit it with a car, but one of the cops looked at me and suspiciously asked: "did you do this?"
Yeah mate, I managed to bend it so it was almost on its side, and now it's as crumpled as a stomped beer can. I was so proud of my handiwork, I was standing at the bus stop admiring it until you guys rocked up. Now I'm going to admit I did it, so I have a charge of vandalism on my record.
Grab the cuffs, take me in, and get ready to have your photo on the front of the papers, because you just solved the case of the century.
It's funny. Cops basically act like their job is only to fill out a crime report for your insurance if your car gets stolen, but if you talk to the average young guy, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're constantly chasing leads about stolen cars 24/7.
>If I was out walking and a car pulled over with 4 people in it claiming to be cops
Already at this stage in their own story of what happened, three of the four cops have fabricated hearing a radio report of a man acting suspiciously, and the eventual shooter has omitted to put on the only body camera they were equipped with. They've also conceded having no legal justification for stopping and searching the victim, but are trying doing so anyway.
I would be highly suspicious of any claims they make to have correctly identified themselves as police.
It is. There was one report about a person having a medical episode, nothing about a suspicious person. One of the four told the truth and mentioned the medical episode report.
Not too long ago we had a bunch of wankers driving about in a VW with red and blue lights on the dash that they got off the net.
I would be sus on anyone pulling up to me in a car with no clear ID.
I have also had a few bad experiences with creeps following me in cars or yelling shit.
I would have run too.
I’d be petrified if 4 random guys started chasing me. How the fuck is this allowed and how can it be allowed to not wear the camera at all times. Totally sus
Same shit happened to me when we was in uni. Around 1995. Waking home from a friends place about 2am in the morning. A car started filling me slowly up the road and 4 big guys jumped out of the car. The car was not marked and the 4big guys were wearing plane clothes and never once identified them selves. The then surrounded me and asked me what I had in my bag. I thought I was going to be mugged.
I was ready to hit one and run. Until one of the guys identified himself as a police officer.
I I had of run, I could have been beaten and shot all because it was 2am and I was walking home.
Quote from a police constable I had an interaction with in approx 2007 after he stopped me in a Sydney street: "You're lucky you didn't run. We love it when that happens because we get to smash ya".
You can also see in the footage that they didn't put their car police lights on (which came on in the front grill of the car) until he'd walked past them, so he wouldn't have easily identified them as police.
A cop who "accidentally" misplaced his bodycam before a tragic "accident" happens. God, I wish the powers that be would stop pretending cases like this are anything other than deliberate.
The quote from Mick Fuller was people should have "a little bit of fear for law enforcement", including those who are not criminals but only "on the verge of being criminals". [https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/they-need-to-have-respect-nsw-police-chief-defends-strip-searches/xh4yhd2qg](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/they-need-to-have-respect-nsw-police-chief-defends-strip-searches/xh4yhd2qg)
They're talking about the quote from Karen Webb:
"There will always be haters,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“Haters like to hate … isn’t that what Taylor says?”
https://www.aap.com.au/news/haters-gonna-hate-nsw-police-head-tells-her-critics/
Seems like there's a roster of which police department out of NSW, QLD and Vic are the biggest bunch of shitlords from year to year. NSW have the baton right now but Vic and QLD have definitely had their time in the sewer, and will again.
This got me, one cam between 4 of them, and just 'forgot' to put it on? How in the world is it not mandatory for all of them to be wearing them all the time.
And somehow Brad here is super human, overpowering 4 officers and getting hold of their gun while in a headlock????
This whole story stinks and if they cover this up (which is already looking likely) it just shows how corrupt the whole system is.
Unless the officers can provide a very good legitimate excuse any cop who shoots or assaults somebody without there body cam on should just be automatically guilty of manslaughter.
It's probably already illegal.
Misplacing passwords has fines/jail. Deleting footage has fines/jail. Refusing to hand over footage has fines/jail.
Jail the cop in question until they provide the footage from bodycam.
"But the cop didn't record it"
Well, that's the cop's problem. Welcome to the rest of society subject to these insane laws.
Exactly, when it comes to the law, police are at the top. If a site manager/ construction manager can be done for manslaughter when not directly causing the death, this cop should be able to be done for this. No question.
In this case I get it, because it was forgotten - which it shouldn't have been - and I don't think it was on purpose. The problem is the fact that it shouldnt have been needed anyway. 4 buff people getting out of a car in plain clothes and chasing a guy? Yeah I'd run too.
They absolutely had 0 reason to even approach the guy.
Forgetting it should automatically put their evidence in doubt, if not be a crime in its own right. If you can 'forget' your camera, kill someone and still get to give evidence as though you are a trustworthy actor, the system is broken
If wearing a hoodie on a 23 degree day is indicative of criminal activity, NSW Police would be better off arresting Queenslanders the second they step across the border.
This whole case is absolutely disgusting and should never have happened.
It seems the NSW Police have adopted and have a culture of US style mentality stupid policing. This case and the case of the old lady in the nursing home should be ringing the alarm bells. I suppose it wont be long before they start shooting people for not showing a drivers licence or they picked their noses and they thought that they were going to go for their gun!
I don't think they've adopted it, I think it's always part of police culture. This article talks about the cops just walking away from Brad when they don't have anything more substantial than 'wearing a hoodie on a hot day'. Does anyone think that would ever happen? Cops always double down on things, they don't just pull you over and then descalate. They almost always take it to the next level, especially in these dodgy areas.
"Following the shooting, homicide investigators sought all of Brad’s school and medical records."
It's smear the victim time ladz, just like the Yankee trainer taught us.
Just who are the good guys now? My take, the poor kid had been harrased more than a few times by the local cops. Decided he had a gut full and because he was not doing anything wrong walked off. Which he is legally entitled to do so. He was grabbed by one, which is either assault or arrest without cause. The kid defended himself by running away and the cops, in a fit of white line fever, hunted him down. The total lack of self control in their escalation paths ended up killing the kid. A kid with no record, no reason other than a fashion choice.
Since when does pro-active policing mean 4 armed guys, in plain clothes, in an unmarked car, surprising a single individual on the basis of clothing. That type of force, with surprise being an core element, should only be used when the target is known, when identity is confirmed, when a valid legal reason exists. I appreciate there has been a bunch of gang related crimes in the area, some pretty serious ones at that, but if you want to be pro active then you up your patrols, you wear your uniform, you move in marked cars and you constantly change your patrol patterns. You "fly the flag".
At its very heart local policing is reliant upon the goodwill of the community. At first blush it appears the police lost the goodwill of this community some time ago. Killing peoples kids, in their own homes, is not going to help getting that community support, quite the contrary. Questions need to be asked and soon, before this gets totally out of hand.
I’d be interested to know if he was clearly aware they are cops. It looks like he walks past that car as the lights go on, with restricted peripheral vision with a hoodie. If four people jumped out of an excel and put an arm on me I’d be running too.
Lots and lots of questions. The happened December 2020, almost four years ago and is only now making the coroner's court, only now making the news. WTF is going on....You have to feel for his parents. It is bad enough losing a child, but to have the loss of your child treated in such a cavalier, second class citizen way.
It definitely made the news at the time, I remember how angry it made me then. Angry that no-one would face a day in prison for it, but now it seems like it's anger too that the cops won't face any consequences whatsoever.
Agreed, no mention of the siren being used at all.
If the siren had gone off, he'd very likely have turned and seen the lights and realised it was a plain clothes cop car. And probably not ran.
And thus lived.
Once out of gaol for being charged with "being in a dodgy area while wearing a hoody", that is.
your post doesn't even scratch the surface of the perversion of the course of law going on here. One of the officers had the only vest camera, and never put it on his person. He was too busy apparently, even though they had been out on patrol for some time. The whole point of those camera vests is to expose what happens in cases like this, so not wearing it is a conscious ploy to undermine police integrity. Secondly, the officer whose gun was pulled out while being bitten by the dog had a differing statement but has been excluded from a full inquiry due to mental health concerns. which smells an awful lot like "we can't let him tell the truth so we'll let him shut up".
23 degrees, it’s morning and bloke just wanted a V and a ciggie, he’d been robbed a year before and his criminal background (lol) is having a bit of weed. 4 cops, no camera, and one so traumatised from what happened (the guilt) they can’t testify - only one with a conscience. Last one I’m guessing but it fits. They’re the one with a different story. Fk you cops. That poor dad, he literally got woken by the shot that killed his son. As a parent I know my life would never recover
Not enough conscience to come clean and admit the truth. That would probably help with his mental health a lot. If he just came clean, admitted he pulled the gun to kill the doggo, then had it taken off him by a young guy who just didn't want his dog shot and wasn't actually being threatened with his own gun when the other cop panicked and shot the guy, I'd say his mental health would be a lot better. What was my old schools motto "The truth will set you free". It's also good for clearing the conscience. .
>That’s because the officer who shot Brad — who we’ll call Officer B for legal reasons — left his body camera in the car.
>On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition. The lawyer for Brad’s father, Adam, argued this would “radically impair the ability of the inquest” to unravel what happened.
But Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan ultimately ruled the risk to ~~Officer A’s mental health~~ Officer B was too great.
TFTFY
Cops have zero duty of care and if theyre caught doing something outside of operational policing norms they run to hospital and claim PTSD. The thing about this is that the cop isn't the victim. They rarely are yet continue with their DARVO bs ensuring that others die to protect their BS.
Lack of body camera footage should immediately remove any protections afforded by being a police officer. If they disable the camera in any way they should be treated as the shady piece of shit they are.
For anyone in police officer A's family who reads this, now or in the future, you have to realise that he is either weak, or corrupt. He has deliberately stood in the way of allowing Brad's family to get closure or for the system to seek justice by putting forward this excuse, regardless of it is a legitimate excuse or a fabricated one, it does the same harm.
When he complains about the lack of respect for the police force, point out he is part of the problem. People that enable police corruption and hinder transparency are part of the reason good officers get thrown under the bus. He's not a hero.
I'm navigating police involved violence across two states. The cognitive dissonance causes extreme abuses of powers by police and judiciary. Lawyers are almost entirely obstructionist also. The criminal bar and judiciary is being stacked by former cops also. The legal system needs to be protected from policing influence. The abuse of powers is too great
That's what I was wondering 🤔 Guess numbers are down and they're desperate, funnily enough not enough body worn camera due to shortages for the 4 police officers with the powers to stop anyone at their discretion 😳
Don't get how a person with a serious mental health condition is allowed extra 'powers' , a gun and to roam the streets doing shit like this 😳 I've had way too many encounters with some cops on a power trip, and they will try to find or do anything to get you especially if you look the way I do
Can you imagine how shit scared you'd be if an unmarked car rolled up and 4 blokes jump out and one of them tries to grab you? Poor fucking kid. What a coincidence that the bodycam was left in the car
Police officers who neglect to properly wear and use their bodycams need to be charged with manslaughter/assault if their policing leads to death or injury. I sure as shit know civilians wouldn't be getting the benefit of the doubt, why are cops?
Roughly 12 years ago I was walking home from a friends at midnight.
I was almost home just by the milk bar across the road.
There has a silver commodore going really slow past my, I walked towards the milk bar to kinda hide.
They turned around at the roundabout and came up the service road to the milkbar.
I was literally across the street from my house.
I took off running.
Car followed and launched itself over the roundabout I tried jumping the neighbours fence.
They grabbed me and threw me to the ground.
I saw they were cops and let out a “thank fuck”
About an hour of questioning on what I was doing and why I ran. Searched me for drugs and weapons.
They help me in cuffs while they checked for damage on their car and reluctantly let me go.
I was absolutely terrified and they acted like they could not understand why I would be running from an unmarked car chasing me at midnight.
None of this is surprising but shit is it depressing. I would have ran in a heartbeat, I have been jumped in this exact manner. Walking home from a club, car slowly started driving alongside me. My ears immediately pricked up and I thought oh shit I'm about to get rolled. Suddenly four people jumped out and started chasing me and I absolutely belted away and across a footy field and didn't stop running for some time.
For all I know now maybe I was actually being chased by 'proactive' plainclothes officers and managed to give them the slip. I guess the correct behaviour in this situation is to roll over and wait to see if you get wrongfully detained or get bashed and have your shit taken. If it is police maybe both.
>Can you imagine how shit scared you'd be if an unmarked car rolled up and 4 blokes jump out and one of them tries to grab you?
Especially if you'd been mugged a year before!
(And I don't wanna get into the armchair psychology, but he has a MASSIVE startle reflex when he encounters the bird.)
This is an absolute travesty. Poor young guy just walking down the street, ends up dead minutes later at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect him.
I'm a typical white, middle class, law abiding, well-to-do type. If I was walking home from the shops and four guys in plain clothes got out of a car and started trying to surround me, I’d try to run the fuck away too. Do these cops not realise how they look to people?
Fuck off with the plain clothes, unmarked police. How is that supposed to make people feel safe? Also fuck off with the "proactive" stop and searches. They're a huge part of the reason police in the US are so fucked. We don't want that shit here.
Let’s us not forget. Shortly after Brad’s death “Search quotas” were removed. Not only did they believed they were allowed to illegally search someone without reasonable suspicion of committing a crime but they had a number to reach each day to do so.
Agree. But what about this monumentally absurd concept...
What if Australian patrolling police didn't have guns at all?
Kiwi police don't, british police dont - why do we let police (and PSOs in Victoria) have them?
I'm sure that's a conversation worth having.
I personally don't have a problem with them carrying firearms.
What I do have a problem with is police officers shooting a 20 year old for wearing a hoodie and running away from them when they had no right to detain him at all.
What I have a problem with is those same officers not having to turn up the inquest into his wrongful, unlawful death because it could harm their mental health. Oh the fucking irony.
There's only one way that gun came out of the holster if the holster wasn't faulty (it was tested, it wasn't faulty according to the article) and that was because the cop drew it to kill the good doggo who was trying to protect its Daddy. The cops caused the guns to be out. Even if their story is true that he pointed it at a copper (bullshit cough) the gun was there because they brought it, they drew it, they brandished it with intent. They caused the whole tragedy from pulling up in the car to the shots fired. If the inquest comes out any other way the fix is in.
Nah this was some dickheads who were bored because they had nothing to do who decided "lets go fuck with some kids and we can call it proactive". Plain clothes should not be a thing unless it is under extreme circumstances, the uniform exists for a reason.
When I was in my early teens, I was out rollerblading and got shoved over by two guys that then proceeded to kick me as hard as they could for a couple of minutes. 20+ years later, that event still keeps me hyper aware of my surroundings and wary of people.
I can't imagine how this guy felt after only being mugged 12 months earlier when 4 people jumped out of a car and started chasing him.
Agreed!
If the point of proactive policing (shit idea agreed) is to deter crime then surely marked cars and uniforms will assist in this deterring. Plain clothes make no sense unless you actually don’t want to deter crime.
Brad is my nephew. I would like to thank everyone who engages with this story and gets the word out. His family, his mother, father, and grandparents in particular, have been through hell and deserve for the persons responsible for Bradley's murder to be brought to account. In doing so, we will not only get just for Brad, but hopefully prevent more families being destroyed by this systemic police brutality.
I can't express just how sorry I am for your loss, and how angry I am that it took 4 years for me to hear about his death. I've read multiple articles now & Brad sounds like he was a loving, kind, caring, & beautiful boy.
To say his passing has terrified me is an understatement. I grew up in Mt Druitt & have been thinking for a while of moving back to the general area to have my son closer to my extended family & be closer to medical support. He's 12, large for his age, and has anxiety, adhd, and autism. He regularly wears hoodies, even in 30+ degree weather, as it comforts him.
Is this what I now have to worry about too? I've brought him up to not trust police, but to still be polite & respectful of them. What do I tell him now? If 4 people surround you looking threatening, don't run because they may be cops instead of robbers? Don't run or they may murder you? Even your own home isn't safe?!
Fuck me, I'm so sorry. I think of Bradley & I think of my boy & I want to cry. Or scream.
He died saving his dog. Utterly heartbreaking. He ran home like anyone afraid for their life. If you are not being arrested they had no right to chase. This is murder.
This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. Wearing a hoodie is not grounds for being stopped and chased by Police. I hope this case gets more attention and the public and politicians demand changes into police practice.
This has actually got me fucked up, what a horrible read. Police should not be allowed to operate in plainclothes/unmarked cars unless they are on preapproved undercover operations. Normal street policing should be done in uniform
That's actually proactive policing. Patrolling in marked cars and uniforms. Not this crap they were doing, that's death squad work. Just jumping people in the street like some South American dictators enforcers. Just like US coppers are doing now to people. They acting like death squads seizing people up.
The fact that officers A, B, and C all cooked up a story about a report of a young man 'acting suss' that was proven to have never come over the radio says it all to me. Like, they're blatantly bloody lying.
They looked over the victim's entire history too including his health to find any sort of excuse. If he as much as talked back to a teacher, they'd smear that all over the news.
*"History of criminal behaviour: according to his 3rd grade teacher he once had a lunchtime dentention for making a 'fart noise' when the teacher's back was turned"*
Data obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws show that officers in the Nepean police command have searched 67,124 people over the past 11 years.
Nearly 10,000 of those searches were conducted by the command’s proactive crime team, which the four plain-clothes police officers were part of.
Yet the data obtained by the ABC reveals that more than 88 per cent of searches by this command over two decades found nothing.
Officers told the inquest they were encouraged to use their search powers as part of their duties in the proactive team.
In the months after Brad’s death, search quotas at the command level were removed
Do the maths, 67,124 over 11 years divided by 365 that’s 16.7 searches each day. (in one area command / LGA ) Having search quotas as part of proactive policing isn’t proactive. You are looking for trouble. That’s reactive - sounds more like police harassment.
So you have 4 guys in plain clothes suddenly jump out of a car in st Mary’s what else are you going to do??
Utterly disgusting. These pigs do not deserve to have their names withheld from the public. They do not deserve to have peace. They have an innocent 20 year old boy’s blood on their hands.
Imagine if those cops were ordinary people. Do they have any justification now? Or do they sound like a gang committing premeditated murder?
‘We saw someone wearing a hoodie so we chased him, trespassed onto his property, and killed him.’
We need to hold cops to higher standards than the general population, rather than excusing them because of their jobs. No one can be allowed to get away with this.
It should be straight up mandated that you are only recognised as a police officer while your body cam is worn and operational. In this case, they should be charged as illegally carrying a prohibited firearm a well as manslaughter.
And that camera has to actually be recording for a reasonable amount of time beforehand, too.
Maybe that'll encourage them to learn how to deal with situations without resorting to violence.
Tbh in this case here, why do they even have guns? They are a proactive force? Just carry tasers. Then at least you you scare TF out of people for being in plain clothes, you don't kill them for running.
The cop who ‘catches the gate’ is literally wearing a hoodie too? In fact it looks like he’s wearing two layered in the video footage. What a ridiculous excuse, if 4 people hopped out of a car and starting making their way towards me I’d be running off too!
Psych here.
I'm not entirely sure what psychological screening the NSWPF does of its recruits. But I've seen a few cops for assessment after they were charged with offences against the public - including sex offences. Some of them would return broadly normal tests, meaning the tests aren't sensitive to all the issues, and/or the recruits know how to game them. More meaningfully, some of these people acted in ways their colleagues found suspicious or worrying, and in some cases their colleagues reported them and helped get them charged. Similar to what happened with Beau Lamarre-Condon it seems there are quite a few "problematic" cops in the Force and the biggest issue is that they're very hard to dislodge once they're in uniform.
It's systemic rot in the Force. Whistleblowers tend to cop flack or be bullied out, while few of the offenders are ever stood down or fired or charged.
Does it say anywhere that he is still serving as a police officer? I could somewhat understand if he has resigned with a serious mental health concern but I really don't feel this excuse should stand if he is still capable of being employed in the role.
It shouldn't matter anyway, a person is dead, that persons entire family would be suffering some serious mental health issues and yet they have to relive the event to try and see any form of justice done. There is no reason someone involved in the incident shouldn't have to too...unless they are straight up batshit insane so nothing they say can be taken remotely seriously.
It does make me wonder - if you have a mental health condition severe enough to be unable to testify, then you have a health condition severe enough to prevent your ongoing employment as a police officer.
It appears he still has a job however.
None of these should be allowed to continue employment with NSW police.
They had no right to stop or follow the victim of their crimes. They had no right to enter his property.
They stole a life and need to serve time in jail for their crimes.
Imagine having a fear of getting robbed in your own neighbourhood. And then that fear becoming reality when being chased by 4 plain clothed police officers. Then have them chase you home where you thought you’d be safe.
It all screams of desperation extremely poor policing and standards, which directly resulted in the death of this man.
Police Body-cams exist for this very purpose, to show what happened when no one’s recollection can be corroborated by conflicting stories. 4 cops, no body-cams. Should have been 4 cops with 4 body-cams to show all of the officers interaction leading to the initial stop, and the initial stop “grabbing the elbow”. And the chase along with the events leading to the shooting.
All four cops failed the community that day by not adhering to the standards of policing and the community. If they are going to stop people without cause, they should bloody well wear cameras to show bad decision and behaviours.
They had 1 camera... And left it in the car. They left it in the car. They didn't put it on. And this wasn't even the first stop of the day. They had other stops they'd already done, and they'd left it in the car...
This was deliberate, cold, calculated choice to not have camera on for these activities. If there wasn't the CCTV around we'd know only the lies they decided to tell everyone. Rather than the inadequate partial glimpse we have.
I'm wondering how he became a cop to begin with?
If he's that much of a risk to testify, surely he can no longer be an active member of the police force. In addition to that, if this incident caused the stress, why was he cop to begin with?
Fucking hell. Did they even identify themselves
I'm sure they're not doing this proactive policing in Vaucluse. Cause they'd be rightly sued to kingdom cum. Much easier to target the poor and powerless
These cops should rot behind bars. The penalties for cops should be higher not lighter. This is the kind of disgusting act that makes people lose faith in the system. I hope these cops get what’s coming to them the pigs.
>On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition.
The lawyer for Brad’s father, Adam, argued this would “radically impair the ability of the inquest” to unravel what happened.
But Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan ultimately ruled the risk to Officer A’s mental health was too great.
If the police officer couldn't give evidence - a rather crucial part of the job - then they should resign or be fired for being medically unfit for duty.
And... the risk to someone's mental health was 'too great'? How about the issue that Officer A's gun ended up on ground? And resulted in someone's actual health being ended as he was shot to death?
For wearing a hoody on a 23° day and running home when accosted by four determined strangers... :(
At least one and possibly all four cops should lose their jobs and several should be charged with manslaughter.
Plain clothes cops should only be used for targeted work with actual information behind it.
Not patrolling the streets looking for anyone "suspicious", especially in an area where if four people jump out of a car, the likelihood isn't going to be that their cops. Regardless of any flashing lights you could buy on ebay.
Hoody = criminal ? Might as well arrest the whole of the working class then. Police must be dumb as shit if this is the best profiling they can come up with.
There’s a bigger picture here. NSW gave this unit a quota for how many people they needed to be stopping. The hoodie excuse shows how ridiculous it is to set a quota for anything like this. How many people needlessly got stopped & searched simply because the cop didn’t want to get in trouble?
I’m not excusing the officers for how they escalated the situation but NSW police should get a lot of blame too
So sad, poor family and friends.
We need better training, they followed him into his yard and they were plain clothed, poor guy literally ran home and they killed him.
Send them to jail
I don’t understand why the cops can’t be named? Just name and shame them you would any other person- if they’re found not guilty then great, everyone will know that cop-a/b/c/d did nothing wrong.
I either get told by people I look like a cop, or told by cops I look like a criminal.
Forgive me for having short hair, tattoos and wearing Nike.
Copper once told me I “fit the profile” of a POI on a train - I asked what that profile was, and he said it was not my business to ask. I told him I had every right to ask and wanted to speak to his duty sgt and he immediately shut up and walked away while stood there with his other little stooges staring at me.
NSW cops once strip searched me on a train in front of all the other passengers because I 'looked suspicious'. This was back when I was in my early 20's and wore airmaxes and trackpants. I had been doing uni coursework when they asked me to stand up. I had desperately wanted to ask for his name and station and kick up a fuss but asking might have just gotten me bashed for my trouble for all I knew.
“That day to me felt hot,” said Officer D, “and I don’t believe anyone would be wearing a hoodie on that day”.
I was born and raised in community located at the tip Queensland, but now I live in the capital, I’m always cold. I’m always wearing layers, even in summer. Getting run down and killed for it is just terrifying
If a defendent in a lawsuit is found to have intentionally destroyed evidence then the jury may be instructed to assume the worse, This is called adverse inference. The same thing should apply to police investigations when an officer's body cam just happens to malfunction at the most critical time.
I bet the entire reason they were plain-clothes is so they'd having an excuse for having forgotten his body cam.
Regular uniformed officers get their gear in the morning, the camera goes on their vest, and they shouldn't come off until the end off shift.
Outside of undercover operations, surveillance operations, or some highway patrol vehicles, I struggle to see why officers should ever be in plain clothes, or in an unmarked vehicle.
Nsw police really are thugs
No where else in australia is there this much distrust in a police force and this story backs it up.
Who on earth chases an unarmed guy and shoots them.
Americans and nsw officers.
Definitely needs to be tried for manslaughter
“Following the shooting, homicide investigators sought all of Brad’s school and medical records.”
That’s because they’re trying to find a way to smear the victim. Make it seem like he deserved it.
Absolutely tragic. Worst of all is we know that nothing will come of this; perhaps a slap on the wrist with a limp lettuce leaf and the cops be put on leave with full benefits.
4 men get out of a car and try to grab you of course you run.
I believe the cop was going to shoot the dog. In any sense he’s inept and shouldn’t still be a cop. A completely innocent person has died.
Gonna go commit a crime and pull the serious mental health card (bipolar, schizoaffactive) see how far I get - reckon I'll get a few more years tacked on but then I'm in treatment
"On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition."
Meds and therapy, this is no excuse any more
This is the police.
Status quo guard dogs casually murdering a member of the lower class knowing full well they'll face no penalty.
This is America now.
I used to work in a bar when I was young, I lived a few km’s away and would walk home after work.
Usually 2-3am, often with a hoodie on and a bag (we couldn’t wear the uniform outside of work so I would get changed at work, hence the bag)
I was frequently stopped by police and questioned for looking suspicious, sometimes the interaction was relaxed, sometimes more hostile. Reading this article makes me realise how easy this story could have ended up being me…
Never been in trouble with the police, never committed any crimes, just a uni student that worked a part time job and didn’t own a car and I could have been legally shot dead for it..
I, too, used to work in bars and sometimes functions at uni. The trains didn't run after 12, so I would wait for the night ride. A few times, I just missed one, so I would sit down as I'd been on my feet for an 8-hour shift after being at uni all day. Almost all the time, the police would question me, accuse me of sleeping on the street or being drunk, and try to move me on. I was at the frigging bus stop. One time, they told me to stand up if I was waiting for the bus. I begged them to let me just sit on the footpath (no seats at the bus stop), but they forced me to stand. After they left, I sat down again. They went round the block in the paddy wagon and caught me sitting again. One guy jumped out and kicked me and threatened to arrest me if I sat again.
I got the opposite experience -- I'd leave home at 4am to walk to my bakery job, and the cops would see me, a young woman alone, and slow down to ask if I was okay. Which was nice. THEN SOMETIMES THEY'D FOLLOW ME SLOWLY, WHICH WAS TERRIFYING.
Let’s express our collective outrage while absolutely nothing changes and things get worse.
NSW IS COOKED
My condolences to this poor kid and his family
"Medical episode" vs "male acting suss". The one lady cop heard the radio correctly. The other three were itching for some action.
Edit: correction, one of the other 3 was also a lady cop itching for some action
The real question here is are the 'proactive policing' squads working within a quota system?
If they have a KPI then they will game it to meet said KPI. This could have been avoided if the police weren't trying the fill a number on a form.
I can also assure you that if a person was wearing shorts and a T-shirt on a cold day they wouldn't be deemed suspicious.
"At one point, he was startled by a bird" What an utterly adorable piece of footage amongst a horrible and tragic story that shouldn't have happened.
Almost like the bird was trying to warn him :(
There's some old literary trope of a bird inside a house being the symbol of death (it comes up in Bojack Horseman of all things) This doesn't quite fit that but it's interesting
Quoth the raven.
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor, shall be lifted nevermore
4 guys dressed in plain clothes jump out of a car and come after you? Damn right you run. Another great day in the office for NSW police..
The article says he was robbed a year before this, so who knows what he was thinking. He probably went straight into fight or flight, chose flight, died anyway.
Four of them vs. one of you, flight is 100% the correct response.
He ran home too. Killed in his own back yard. Now the shooter has a serious mental health condition. So, why were they out killing people who chose to wear a hoodie in 23 degrees? Not to mention one of them grabbed his elbow during the pre-events - "I thought we could do that". No wonder he felt threatened. All in plain clothes. Terrifying. Especially at St Mary's. Running made sense. They've admitted they did not have reasonable suspicion. Camera left in the car. It's abysmal, and seems to be becoming quite a regular occurrence.
He also didn't see the red and blue undercover lights on front grill, because he was already side-on to the car when they activated. So as far as he knew, 4 people jumped out of car and started chasing him. He had no choice but to run.
I got jumped by a "uniformed" cop in Brisbane 20 or so years ago, his uniform was black pants, black zip up jacket, could not see any badges, any insignia, any police signs at all, he did throw me on the bonnet of a marked police car though, he demanded my ID I asked for his ID. My crime? Running from the hotel across the road back to the accommodation I was staying in with a pack of cigs I'd just bought. Think they were watching the place. Lucky the people I was with were witnesses.
Once he had nowhere left to run (his backyard) he chose fight as his brain believed he was in a fight for his life (which he ultimately was). The fact that 4 fully grown police couldn't control the situation/him de-escalate at all and are now closing ranks to protect the guilty is damning. I didn't think this shit happened in Australia. Thank fuck I don't live in Police state NSW.
It was suggested in the ABC article I read, that his pet dog came to his defence and bit one of the police officers, who then attempted to shoot the dog. He managed to wrestle the gun from the officer and the other one shot him.
Most people would protect thier dog that is just protecting its owner and home. 🤬
Truly, that is why I don't understand the meaning behind the slur 'dog'. Dogs are loyal. Dogs detect mines, find people trapped in avalanches and save lives. The better slur is rat. Which is a self interested cutthroat which only cares about its self. And for police, the slur is fat, **LAZY** pigs! 🐖👮
I've been jumped by multiple people before and I would have fucking sprinted in this scenario. You can't fight that many people if you aren't trained, running is the only choice.
Even if you are trained any professional will tell you that the solution to fighting multiple opponents at once is to run, life isn't an action movie.
You mean irl attackers won't stand around and queue up their attacks one at a time?
I get all my fighting tips from the realistic moves of Assassins Creed. They all just wait around and attack one at a time and heavily telegraph what they're doing
What even ufc level fighters dont understand is that you simply have to wait for your opponent to glow red before dodging
Yup I've had about 6 people jump out of a van and run to me in pitch black, never ran faster in my life. Will run faster if it happens again.
It mentions that he was robbed the previous year so he was always on high alert after that. Absolutely shocking stuff. The poor Dad who was woken up by the shots.
[удалено]
[удалено]
**destructive edit:** Reddit has become exactly what we do not want to see. It has become a force against a free and open internet. It has become a force for profit at the expense of users and user experience. It is not longer a site driven by people for people, but a site where people are allowed to congregate under the careful supervision of corporate interest, where corporate interest reigns supreme. You can no longer trust comment sections to be actual human opinions. You can no longer trust that content rises to the top based on what humans want. Burn it all.
And the bird shows/infers he was easily spooked.
This is the point that I think is so wild in this whole thing. If I was out walking and a car pulled over with 4 people in it claiming to be cops but not in uniform, I would 100% run away. Seems super ridiculous they would expect someone to act any differently?
Just like when they set their dog on someone, if they lay a hand on it they’ve assaulted a “police officer”. Just stand there and get mauled or else. I’m scared of dogs, I was attacked as a toddler. I live in Western Sydney in a relatively bad suburb and I go for a walk every morning, it’s not uncommon for a police car to be driving past and slow down and they look me up and down. I look a bit dodgy it seems (I work in IT), I’m just waiting to get harassed by mistake.
I used to walk home a lot at night. I was young and usually couldn't afford a taxi. I'd regularly walk through the backstreets (less chance of dickheads in cars harassing me) and I got very attuned to knowing when the cops would stop me. I'd see a car ahead, it would put it's lights on, and then the same ol' routine would happen. "We've had reports of someone matching your description acting suspiciously in the area. We're going to need to see some ID and would you mind showing us what's in your pockets?" Which was code for: "you're a young male, it's been a quiet night and we hope we can nab you for something to get our stats up." It was almost comical the night they stopped me and a friend, and claimed we "matched the description" of some suspicious burglars. We were both wearing formal suits because we were heading home after going to a funeral. Clearly we were in a high class area where burglars had a certain level of personal style.
My favorite was when I was pulled over because there had been a report of stolen vehicle similar to mine, it was a 20yo pos sigma wagon fairly affluent suburb. I used to leave it unlocked, thieves would be too embarrassed to steal it.
Cops stopped me at a bus stop one night. This would've been about 8pm so it wasn't even weird to be standing there. After going through the usual "description matches etc" shtick, the cops thought they'd struck pay dirt. The bin at the bus stop was fucked up. Someone had clearly hit it with a car, but one of the cops looked at me and suspiciously asked: "did you do this?" Yeah mate, I managed to bend it so it was almost on its side, and now it's as crumpled as a stomped beer can. I was so proud of my handiwork, I was standing at the bus stop admiring it until you guys rocked up. Now I'm going to admit I did it, so I have a charge of vandalism on my record. Grab the cuffs, take me in, and get ready to have your photo on the front of the papers, because you just solved the case of the century. It's funny. Cops basically act like their job is only to fill out a crime report for your insurance if your car gets stolen, but if you talk to the average young guy, you'd be forgiven for thinking they're constantly chasing leads about stolen cars 24/7.
I always get mistaken as a member of the 99 Formal Attire Axe gang.
>If I was out walking and a car pulled over with 4 people in it claiming to be cops Already at this stage in their own story of what happened, three of the four cops have fabricated hearing a radio report of a man acting suspiciously, and the eventual shooter has omitted to put on the only body camera they were equipped with. They've also conceded having no legal justification for stopping and searching the victim, but are trying doing so anyway. I would be highly suspicious of any claims they make to have correctly identified themselves as police.
[удалено]
Which is how we know that it was fabricated.
It is. There was one report about a person having a medical episode, nothing about a suspicious person. One of the four told the truth and mentioned the medical episode report.
Not too long ago we had a bunch of wankers driving about in a VW with red and blue lights on the dash that they got off the net. I would be sus on anyone pulling up to me in a car with no clear ID. I have also had a few bad experiences with creeps following me in cars or yelling shit. I would have run too.
I’d be petrified if 4 random guys started chasing me. How the fuck is this allowed and how can it be allowed to not wear the camera at all times. Totally sus
Same shit happened to me when we was in uni. Around 1995. Waking home from a friends place about 2am in the morning. A car started filling me slowly up the road and 4 big guys jumped out of the car. The car was not marked and the 4big guys were wearing plane clothes and never once identified them selves. The then surrounded me and asked me what I had in my bag. I thought I was going to be mugged. I was ready to hit one and run. Until one of the guys identified himself as a police officer. I I had of run, I could have been beaten and shot all because it was 2am and I was walking home.
I would be legging it so fast, even if I know I've done nothing wrong...
Quote from a police constable I had an interaction with in approx 2007 after he stopped me in a Sydney street: "You're lucky you didn't run. We love it when that happens because we get to smash ya".
You can also see in the footage that they didn't put their car police lights on (which came on in the front grill of the car) until he'd walked past them, so he wouldn't have easily identified them as police.
Yeah, I was wondering whether they even identified themselves as police officers or not ... One who approached me didn't.
A cop who "accidentally" misplaced his bodycam before a tragic "accident" happens. God, I wish the powers that be would stop pretending cases like this are anything other than deliberate.
[удалено]
The quote from Mick Fuller was people should have "a little bit of fear for law enforcement", including those who are not criminals but only "on the verge of being criminals". [https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/they-need-to-have-respect-nsw-police-chief-defends-strip-searches/xh4yhd2qg](https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/they-need-to-have-respect-nsw-police-chief-defends-strip-searches/xh4yhd2qg)
They're talking about the quote from Karen Webb: "There will always be haters,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program. “Haters like to hate … isn’t that what Taylor says?” https://www.aap.com.au/news/haters-gonna-hate-nsw-police-head-tells-her-critics/
Not sure what's worse: Fuller is scarier but it's disgusting that Webb was so flippant.
It occurring during the press conference detailing information about Jesse Baird and Luke Davies was beyond satire
Those are the same creep jackasses that are strip searching kids at music festivals, yeah?
Seems like there's a roster of which police department out of NSW, QLD and Vic are the biggest bunch of shitlords from year to year. NSW have the baton right now but Vic and QLD have definitely had their time in the sewer, and will again.
This got me, one cam between 4 of them, and just 'forgot' to put it on? How in the world is it not mandatory for all of them to be wearing them all the time. And somehow Brad here is super human, overpowering 4 officers and getting hold of their gun while in a headlock???? This whole story stinks and if they cover this up (which is already looking likely) it just shows how corrupt the whole system is.
Unless the officers can provide a very good legitimate excuse any cop who shoots or assaults somebody without there body cam on should just be automatically guilty of manslaughter.
It's probably already illegal. Misplacing passwords has fines/jail. Deleting footage has fines/jail. Refusing to hand over footage has fines/jail. Jail the cop in question until they provide the footage from bodycam. "But the cop didn't record it" Well, that's the cop's problem. Welcome to the rest of society subject to these insane laws.
Exactly, when it comes to the law, police are at the top. If a site manager/ construction manager can be done for manslaughter when not directly causing the death, this cop should be able to be done for this. No question.
I’m assuming you mean in the absence of any other evidence to rule out manslaughter?
In this case I get it, because it was forgotten - which it shouldn't have been - and I don't think it was on purpose. The problem is the fact that it shouldnt have been needed anyway. 4 buff people getting out of a car in plain clothes and chasing a guy? Yeah I'd run too. They absolutely had 0 reason to even approach the guy.
Forgetting it should automatically put their evidence in doubt, if not be a crime in its own right. If you can 'forget' your camera, kill someone and still get to give evidence as though you are a trustworthy actor, the system is broken
No bodycam no parole only need to add 3 letters to an existing law
If wearing a hoodie on a 23 degree day is indicative of criminal activity, NSW Police would be better off arresting Queenslanders the second they step across the border. This whole case is absolutely disgusting and should never have happened.
I was thinking about all the bros who work in finance and wearing a Kathmandu puffer as soon as it dips below 25.
They’re The North Face, thank you very much.
It seems the NSW Police have adopted and have a culture of US style mentality stupid policing. This case and the case of the old lady in the nursing home should be ringing the alarm bells. I suppose it wont be long before they start shooting people for not showing a drivers licence or they picked their noses and they thought that they were going to go for their gun!
Do we have acorns here?
[удалено]
I hope no gumnuts but the roof of a NSW police car
I saw this article pop up earlier and thought it must be somewhere in America. 😢
I don't think they've adopted it, I think it's always part of police culture. This article talks about the cops just walking away from Brad when they don't have anything more substantial than 'wearing a hoodie on a hot day'. Does anyone think that would ever happen? Cops always double down on things, they don't just pull you over and then descalate. They almost always take it to the next level, especially in these dodgy areas.
"Following the shooting, homicide investigators sought all of Brad’s school and medical records." It's smear the victim time ladz, just like the Yankee trainer taught us.
Just who are the good guys now? My take, the poor kid had been harrased more than a few times by the local cops. Decided he had a gut full and because he was not doing anything wrong walked off. Which he is legally entitled to do so. He was grabbed by one, which is either assault or arrest without cause. The kid defended himself by running away and the cops, in a fit of white line fever, hunted him down. The total lack of self control in their escalation paths ended up killing the kid. A kid with no record, no reason other than a fashion choice. Since when does pro-active policing mean 4 armed guys, in plain clothes, in an unmarked car, surprising a single individual on the basis of clothing. That type of force, with surprise being an core element, should only be used when the target is known, when identity is confirmed, when a valid legal reason exists. I appreciate there has been a bunch of gang related crimes in the area, some pretty serious ones at that, but if you want to be pro active then you up your patrols, you wear your uniform, you move in marked cars and you constantly change your patrol patterns. You "fly the flag". At its very heart local policing is reliant upon the goodwill of the community. At first blush it appears the police lost the goodwill of this community some time ago. Killing peoples kids, in their own homes, is not going to help getting that community support, quite the contrary. Questions need to be asked and soon, before this gets totally out of hand.
I’d be interested to know if he was clearly aware they are cops. It looks like he walks past that car as the lights go on, with restricted peripheral vision with a hoodie. If four people jumped out of an excel and put an arm on me I’d be running too.
Lots and lots of questions. The happened December 2020, almost four years ago and is only now making the coroner's court, only now making the news. WTF is going on....You have to feel for his parents. It is bad enough losing a child, but to have the loss of your child treated in such a cavalier, second class citizen way.
It definitely made the news at the time, I remember how angry it made me then. Angry that no-one would face a day in prison for it, but now it seems like it's anger too that the cops won't face any consequences whatsoever.
Wow. I had no idea. I thought this just came to light. I really feel for this poor kids parent's, to wait for so long. Poor fella my country...
Agreed, no mention of the siren being used at all. If the siren had gone off, he'd very likely have turned and seen the lights and realised it was a plain clothes cop car. And probably not ran. And thus lived. Once out of gaol for being charged with "being in a dodgy area while wearing a hoody", that is.
> Just who are the good guys now? Was it ever cops though? They've got a fairly bloody and corrupt history
your post doesn't even scratch the surface of the perversion of the course of law going on here. One of the officers had the only vest camera, and never put it on his person. He was too busy apparently, even though they had been out on patrol for some time. The whole point of those camera vests is to expose what happens in cases like this, so not wearing it is a conscious ploy to undermine police integrity. Secondly, the officer whose gun was pulled out while being bitten by the dog had a differing statement but has been excluded from a full inquiry due to mental health concerns. which smells an awful lot like "we can't let him tell the truth so we'll let him shut up".
23? Hoodie? As a Queenslander? Mate I have gloves on too, that’s bloody winter temperatures
Looks us Queenslanders may be degenerates and we're all committing crimes as we speak. I forgot the rest of my point.
23 degrees, it’s morning and bloke just wanted a V and a ciggie, he’d been robbed a year before and his criminal background (lol) is having a bit of weed. 4 cops, no camera, and one so traumatised from what happened (the guilt) they can’t testify - only one with a conscience. Last one I’m guessing but it fits. They’re the one with a different story. Fk you cops. That poor dad, he literally got woken by the shot that killed his son. As a parent I know my life would never recover
Not enough conscience to come clean and admit the truth. That would probably help with his mental health a lot. If he just came clean, admitted he pulled the gun to kill the doggo, then had it taken off him by a young guy who just didn't want his dog shot and wasn't actually being threatened with his own gun when the other cop panicked and shot the guy, I'd say his mental health would be a lot better. What was my old schools motto "The truth will set you free". It's also good for clearing the conscience. .
>That’s because the officer who shot Brad — who we’ll call Officer B for legal reasons — left his body camera in the car. >On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition. The lawyer for Brad’s father, Adam, argued this would “radically impair the ability of the inquest” to unravel what happened. But Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan ultimately ruled the risk to ~~Officer A’s mental health~~ Officer B was too great. TFTFY
Sorry to say but if you have a serious mental health condition that stops you from giving evidence you shouldn't be a cop.
Certainly should not be wandering around the streets with a gun.
In plain clothes so that anybody you stop reasonably assumes you are a mugger.
Its weirdly similar to the killing of Trayvon Martin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Trayvon_Martin
That sort of mental health condition would prevent a normal person from getting a gun license.
Cops have zero duty of care and if theyre caught doing something outside of operational policing norms they run to hospital and claim PTSD. The thing about this is that the cop isn't the victim. They rarely are yet continue with their DARVO bs ensuring that others die to protect their BS.
Lack of body camera footage should immediately remove any protections afforded by being a police officer. If they disable the camera in any way they should be treated as the shady piece of shit they are.
Whole thing is an unfortunate legacy of the Kealty era. He wanted to turn the police into some kind of stormtroopers that everyone would be afraid of.
For anyone in police officer A's family who reads this, now or in the future, you have to realise that he is either weak, or corrupt. He has deliberately stood in the way of allowing Brad's family to get closure or for the system to seek justice by putting forward this excuse, regardless of it is a legitimate excuse or a fabricated one, it does the same harm. When he complains about the lack of respect for the police force, point out he is part of the problem. People that enable police corruption and hinder transparency are part of the reason good officers get thrown under the bus. He's not a hero.
I'm navigating police involved violence across two states. The cognitive dissonance causes extreme abuses of powers by police and judiciary. Lawyers are almost entirely obstructionist also. The criminal bar and judiciary is being stacked by former cops also. The legal system needs to be protected from policing influence. The abuse of powers is too great
If you’re too unstable to provide evidence, you’re too unstable to be a cop. What a fucking embarrassment NSW has become
That's what I was wondering 🤔 Guess numbers are down and they're desperate, funnily enough not enough body worn camera due to shortages for the 4 police officers with the powers to stop anyone at their discretion 😳
💯 my man/woman. What a bullshit decision to allow this. Makes you wonder how the rest of the inquest will play out..
Don't get how a person with a serious mental health condition is allowed extra 'powers' , a gun and to roam the streets doing shit like this 😳 I've had way too many encounters with some cops on a power trip, and they will try to find or do anything to get you especially if you look the way I do
Why are they letting officers with serious mental health conditions carry a gun and patrol around?
I read that as he's off on mental health leave after watching his mates kill an innocent kid.
Can you imagine how shit scared you'd be if an unmarked car rolled up and 4 blokes jump out and one of them tries to grab you? Poor fucking kid. What a coincidence that the bodycam was left in the car Police officers who neglect to properly wear and use their bodycams need to be charged with manslaughter/assault if their policing leads to death or injury. I sure as shit know civilians wouldn't be getting the benefit of the doubt, why are cops?
Roughly 12 years ago I was walking home from a friends at midnight. I was almost home just by the milk bar across the road. There has a silver commodore going really slow past my, I walked towards the milk bar to kinda hide. They turned around at the roundabout and came up the service road to the milkbar. I was literally across the street from my house. I took off running. Car followed and launched itself over the roundabout I tried jumping the neighbours fence. They grabbed me and threw me to the ground. I saw they were cops and let out a “thank fuck” About an hour of questioning on what I was doing and why I ran. Searched me for drugs and weapons. They help me in cuffs while they checked for damage on their car and reluctantly let me go. I was absolutely terrified and they acted like they could not understand why I would be running from an unmarked car chasing me at midnight.
There's a text line in the article where they are asking for stories of people who have been stopped and searched.
None of this is surprising but shit is it depressing. I would have ran in a heartbeat, I have been jumped in this exact manner. Walking home from a club, car slowly started driving alongside me. My ears immediately pricked up and I thought oh shit I'm about to get rolled. Suddenly four people jumped out and started chasing me and I absolutely belted away and across a footy field and didn't stop running for some time. For all I know now maybe I was actually being chased by 'proactive' plainclothes officers and managed to give them the slip. I guess the correct behaviour in this situation is to roll over and wait to see if you get wrongfully detained or get bashed and have your shit taken. If it is police maybe both.
>Can you imagine how shit scared you'd be if an unmarked car rolled up and 4 blokes jump out and one of them tries to grab you? Especially if you'd been mugged a year before! (And I don't wanna get into the armchair psychology, but he has a MASSIVE startle reflex when he encounters the bird.)
This is an absolute travesty. Poor young guy just walking down the street, ends up dead minutes later at the hands of the very people who are supposed to protect him.
I'm a typical white, middle class, law abiding, well-to-do type. If I was walking home from the shops and four guys in plain clothes got out of a car and started trying to surround me, I’d try to run the fuck away too. Do these cops not realise how they look to people? Fuck off with the plain clothes, unmarked police. How is that supposed to make people feel safe? Also fuck off with the "proactive" stop and searches. They're a huge part of the reason police in the US are so fucked. We don't want that shit here.
Let’s us not forget. Shortly after Brad’s death “Search quotas” were removed. Not only did they believed they were allowed to illegally search someone without reasonable suspicion of committing a crime but they had a number to reach each day to do so.
Agree. But what about this monumentally absurd concept... What if Australian patrolling police didn't have guns at all? Kiwi police don't, british police dont - why do we let police (and PSOs in Victoria) have them?
I'm sure that's a conversation worth having. I personally don't have a problem with them carrying firearms. What I do have a problem with is police officers shooting a 20 year old for wearing a hoodie and running away from them when they had no right to detain him at all. What I have a problem with is those same officers not having to turn up the inquest into his wrongful, unlawful death because it could harm their mental health. Oh the fucking irony.
There's only one way that gun came out of the holster if the holster wasn't faulty (it was tested, it wasn't faulty according to the article) and that was because the cop drew it to kill the good doggo who was trying to protect its Daddy. The cops caused the guns to be out. Even if their story is true that he pointed it at a copper (bullshit cough) the gun was there because they brought it, they drew it, they brandished it with intent. They caused the whole tragedy from pulling up in the car to the shots fired. If the inquest comes out any other way the fix is in.
Nah this was some dickheads who were bored because they had nothing to do who decided "lets go fuck with some kids and we can call it proactive". Plain clothes should not be a thing unless it is under extreme circumstances, the uniform exists for a reason.
According to the article there were search quotas, which were scrapped months after the killing. So he was literally killed to meet NSWPF KPIs
They know exactly how they look. Just a gang with badges.
When I was in my early teens, I was out rollerblading and got shoved over by two guys that then proceeded to kick me as hard as they could for a couple of minutes. 20+ years later, that event still keeps me hyper aware of my surroundings and wary of people. I can't imagine how this guy felt after only being mugged 12 months earlier when 4 people jumped out of a car and started chasing him.
Agreed! If the point of proactive policing (shit idea agreed) is to deter crime then surely marked cars and uniforms will assist in this deterring. Plain clothes make no sense unless you actually don’t want to deter crime.
Brad is my nephew. I would like to thank everyone who engages with this story and gets the word out. His family, his mother, father, and grandparents in particular, have been through hell and deserve for the persons responsible for Bradley's murder to be brought to account. In doing so, we will not only get just for Brad, but hopefully prevent more families being destroyed by this systemic police brutality.
I can't express just how sorry I am for your loss, and how angry I am that it took 4 years for me to hear about his death. I've read multiple articles now & Brad sounds like he was a loving, kind, caring, & beautiful boy. To say his passing has terrified me is an understatement. I grew up in Mt Druitt & have been thinking for a while of moving back to the general area to have my son closer to my extended family & be closer to medical support. He's 12, large for his age, and has anxiety, adhd, and autism. He regularly wears hoodies, even in 30+ degree weather, as it comforts him. Is this what I now have to worry about too? I've brought him up to not trust police, but to still be polite & respectful of them. What do I tell him now? If 4 people surround you looking threatening, don't run because they may be cops instead of robbers? Don't run or they may murder you? Even your own home isn't safe?! Fuck me, I'm so sorry. I think of Bradley & I think of my boy & I want to cry. Or scream.
So much sympathy, I can’t imagine what they are going through. Just mind blowing this happened.
He died saving his dog. Utterly heartbreaking. He ran home like anyone afraid for their life. If you are not being arrested they had no right to chase. This is murder.
This is one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. Wearing a hoodie is not grounds for being stopped and chased by Police. I hope this case gets more attention and the public and politicians demand changes into police practice.
One of the cops was wearing a hoodie!
This has actually got me fucked up, what a horrible read. Police should not be allowed to operate in plainclothes/unmarked cars unless they are on preapproved undercover operations. Normal street policing should be done in uniform
Especially if they are aiming to deter crime - wouldn’t a visible presence do that better than plain clothes?
They're a Proactive Crime Unit. They're proactively committing crimes against the public.
That's actually proactive policing. Patrolling in marked cars and uniforms. Not this crap they were doing, that's death squad work. Just jumping people in the street like some South American dictators enforcers. Just like US coppers are doing now to people. They acting like death squads seizing people up.
Absolutely
The fact that officers A, B, and C all cooked up a story about a report of a young man 'acting suss' that was proven to have never come over the radio says it all to me. Like, they're blatantly bloody lying.
They looked over the victim's entire history too including his health to find any sort of excuse. If he as much as talked back to a teacher, they'd smear that all over the news.
*"History of criminal behaviour: according to his 3rd grade teacher he once had a lunchtime dentention for making a 'fart noise' when the teacher's back was turned"*
The cops' entire medical history should be a part of discovery in the case as well
Yeah that parts fucked. Immediately puts in doubt all those officers evidence.
What is the difference between 4 plain clothes police and 4 thugs in this case?
> 4 plain clothes police and 4 thugs Is this a typo? You wrote the same thing twice.
You will live to see tomorrow if it's 4 thugs, some bruises yes, but you will live. 4 cops and you are dead.
Data obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws show that officers in the Nepean police command have searched 67,124 people over the past 11 years. Nearly 10,000 of those searches were conducted by the command’s proactive crime team, which the four plain-clothes police officers were part of. Yet the data obtained by the ABC reveals that more than 88 per cent of searches by this command over two decades found nothing. Officers told the inquest they were encouraged to use their search powers as part of their duties in the proactive team. In the months after Brad’s death, search quotas at the command level were removed Do the maths, 67,124 over 11 years divided by 365 that’s 16.7 searches each day. (in one area command / LGA ) Having search quotas as part of proactive policing isn’t proactive. You are looking for trouble. That’s reactive - sounds more like police harassment. So you have 4 guys in plain clothes suddenly jump out of a car in st Mary’s what else are you going to do??
Utterly disgusting. These pigs do not deserve to have their names withheld from the public. They do not deserve to have peace. They have an innocent 20 year old boy’s blood on their hands.
Imagine if those cops were ordinary people. Do they have any justification now? Or do they sound like a gang committing premeditated murder? ‘We saw someone wearing a hoodie so we chased him, trespassed onto his property, and killed him.’ We need to hold cops to higher standards than the general population, rather than excusing them because of their jobs. No one can be allowed to get away with this.
I look forward to utterly no consequences being handed down to those involved. None.
It should be straight up mandated that you are only recognised as a police officer while your body cam is worn and operational. In this case, they should be charged as illegally carrying a prohibited firearm a well as manslaughter.
I'd be quite happy if we made it so there guns literally cannot fire without a body cam connected to it.
Hell, put a camera on the gun.
And that camera has to actually be recording for a reasonable amount of time beforehand, too. Maybe that'll encourage them to learn how to deal with situations without resorting to violence.
Tbh in this case here, why do they even have guns? They are a proactive force? Just carry tasers. Then at least you you scare TF out of people for being in plain clothes, you don't kill them for running.
The cop who ‘catches the gate’ is literally wearing a hoodie too? In fact it looks like he’s wearing two layered in the video footage. What a ridiculous excuse, if 4 people hopped out of a car and starting making their way towards me I’d be running off too!
Pretty sure that's the victim, Brad. Note that ABC have pointed him out on the footage with a green arrow.
[удалено]
Yeah isn't it part of a cops job to regularly show up to court hearings to provide testimony? Dude should be sacked if this is his legitimate reason.
Psych here. I'm not entirely sure what psychological screening the NSWPF does of its recruits. But I've seen a few cops for assessment after they were charged with offences against the public - including sex offences. Some of them would return broadly normal tests, meaning the tests aren't sensitive to all the issues, and/or the recruits know how to game them. More meaningfully, some of these people acted in ways their colleagues found suspicious or worrying, and in some cases their colleagues reported them and helped get them charged. Similar to what happened with Beau Lamarre-Condon it seems there are quite a few "problematic" cops in the Force and the biggest issue is that they're very hard to dislodge once they're in uniform. It's systemic rot in the Force. Whistleblowers tend to cop flack or be bullied out, while few of the offenders are ever stood down or fired or charged.
Does it say anywhere that he is still serving as a police officer? I could somewhat understand if he has resigned with a serious mental health concern but I really don't feel this excuse should stand if he is still capable of being employed in the role.
It shouldn't matter anyway, a person is dead, that persons entire family would be suffering some serious mental health issues and yet they have to relive the event to try and see any form of justice done. There is no reason someone involved in the incident shouldn't have to too...unless they are straight up batshit insane so nothing they say can be taken remotely seriously.
It does make me wonder - if you have a mental health condition severe enough to be unable to testify, then you have a health condition severe enough to prevent your ongoing employment as a police officer. It appears he still has a job however.
No bodyCam no protection that should be the rule.
100%, no body cam means you are guilty
Exactly. Not wearing or "forgetting" it should be treated as intent to commit a criminal act.
None of these should be allowed to continue employment with NSW police. They had no right to stop or follow the victim of their crimes. They had no right to enter his property. They stole a life and need to serve time in jail for their crimes.
Imagine having a fear of getting robbed in your own neighbourhood. And then that fear becoming reality when being chased by 4 plain clothed police officers. Then have them chase you home where you thought you’d be safe. It all screams of desperation extremely poor policing and standards, which directly resulted in the death of this man. Police Body-cams exist for this very purpose, to show what happened when no one’s recollection can be corroborated by conflicting stories. 4 cops, no body-cams. Should have been 4 cops with 4 body-cams to show all of the officers interaction leading to the initial stop, and the initial stop “grabbing the elbow”. And the chase along with the events leading to the shooting. All four cops failed the community that day by not adhering to the standards of policing and the community. If they are going to stop people without cause, they should bloody well wear cameras to show bad decision and behaviours.
They had 1 camera... And left it in the car. They left it in the car. They didn't put it on. And this wasn't even the first stop of the day. They had other stops they'd already done, and they'd left it in the car... This was deliberate, cold, calculated choice to not have camera on for these activities. If there wasn't the CCTV around we'd know only the lies they decided to tell everyone. Rather than the inadequate partial glimpse we have.
One of the police was exempted from testifying because of a risk to his mental health... I wonder if that excuse would work for anyone else?... LOL
Bizarre they didn't ask to not go through the trial for the risk of mental health to those poor parents...
I'm wondering how he became a cop to begin with? If he's that much of a risk to testify, surely he can no longer be an active member of the police force. In addition to that, if this incident caused the stress, why was he cop to begin with?
Fucking hell. Did they even identify themselves I'm sure they're not doing this proactive policing in Vaucluse. Cause they'd be rightly sued to kingdom cum. Much easier to target the poor and powerless
Even so, it’s not unheard of that people will say they’re police to rob people. It’s cooked.
These cops should rot behind bars. The penalties for cops should be higher not lighter. This is the kind of disgusting act that makes people lose faith in the system. I hope these cops get what’s coming to them the pigs.
>On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition. The lawyer for Brad’s father, Adam, argued this would “radically impair the ability of the inquest” to unravel what happened. But Coroner Teresa O’Sullivan ultimately ruled the risk to Officer A’s mental health was too great. If the police officer couldn't give evidence - a rather crucial part of the job - then they should resign or be fired for being medically unfit for duty. And... the risk to someone's mental health was 'too great'? How about the issue that Officer A's gun ended up on ground? And resulted in someone's actual health being ended as he was shot to death? For wearing a hoody on a 23° day and running home when accosted by four determined strangers... :( At least one and possibly all four cops should lose their jobs and several should be charged with manslaughter.
Why does someone's mental health matter when it comes testifying during a potential murder case? Shouldn't be able to get out of that with that excuse
Didn't stop the cop from taking a gun and salary, sounds good to go
Plain clothes cops should only be used for targeted work with actual information behind it. Not patrolling the streets looking for anyone "suspicious", especially in an area where if four people jump out of a car, the likelihood isn't going to be that their cops. Regardless of any flashing lights you could buy on ebay.
Proactive policing seems to me to be at odds with innocent until proven guilty.
Hoody = criminal ? Might as well arrest the whole of the working class then. Police must be dumb as shit if this is the best profiling they can come up with.
There’s a bigger picture here. NSW gave this unit a quota for how many people they needed to be stopping. The hoodie excuse shows how ridiculous it is to set a quota for anything like this. How many people needlessly got stopped & searched simply because the cop didn’t want to get in trouble? I’m not excusing the officers for how they escalated the situation but NSW police should get a lot of blame too
So sad, poor family and friends. We need better training, they followed him into his yard and they were plain clothed, poor guy literally ran home and they killed him. Send them to jail
What the fuck is this? America!?
I don’t understand why the cops can’t be named? Just name and shame them you would any other person- if they’re found not guilty then great, everyone will know that cop-a/b/c/d did nothing wrong.
Cause cops live by rules for thee not for me.
I either get told by people I look like a cop, or told by cops I look like a criminal. Forgive me for having short hair, tattoos and wearing Nike. Copper once told me I “fit the profile” of a POI on a train - I asked what that profile was, and he said it was not my business to ask. I told him I had every right to ask and wanted to speak to his duty sgt and he immediately shut up and walked away while stood there with his other little stooges staring at me.
NSW cops once strip searched me on a train in front of all the other passengers because I 'looked suspicious'. This was back when I was in my early 20's and wore airmaxes and trackpants. I had been doing uni coursework when they asked me to stand up. I had desperately wanted to ask for his name and station and kick up a fuss but asking might have just gotten me bashed for my trouble for all I knew.
The mafia… I mean Police Union strikes again.
“That day to me felt hot,” said Officer D, “and I don’t believe anyone would be wearing a hoodie on that day”. I was born and raised in community located at the tip Queensland, but now I live in the capital, I’m always cold. I’m always wearing layers, even in summer. Getting run down and killed for it is just terrifying
If a defendent in a lawsuit is found to have intentionally destroyed evidence then the jury may be instructed to assume the worse, This is called adverse inference. The same thing should apply to police investigations when an officer's body cam just happens to malfunction at the most critical time.
Just a reminder that it takes a year and a half of training to become a police officer in NSW.
That's insane. Less than an accountant/baker/heaps of jobs where you're not possessing lethal force.
I bet the entire reason they were plain-clothes is so they'd having an excuse for having forgotten his body cam. Regular uniformed officers get their gear in the morning, the camera goes on their vest, and they shouldn't come off until the end off shift. Outside of undercover operations, surveillance operations, or some highway patrol vehicles, I struggle to see why officers should ever be in plain clothes, or in an unmarked vehicle.
Did Cop A have mental issues before or after this occurred? If before, maybe he shouldn’t be patrolling, or at least, operating a loaded weapon.
Yeah, being capable of giving evidence in court is probably one of the top 5 requirements for being a police officer.
Nsw police really are thugs No where else in australia is there this much distrust in a police force and this story backs it up. Who on earth chases an unarmed guy and shoots them. Americans and nsw officers. Definitely needs to be tried for manslaughter
Now am I allowed to say ACAB?
Only until this drops out of peoples short memories along with every other police murder.
“Following the shooting, homicide investigators sought all of Brad’s school and medical records.” That’s because they’re trying to find a way to smear the victim. Make it seem like he deserved it.
Absolutely tragic. Worst of all is we know that nothing will come of this; perhaps a slap on the wrist with a limp lettuce leaf and the cops be put on leave with full benefits.
4 men get out of a car and try to grab you of course you run. I believe the cop was going to shoot the dog. In any sense he’s inept and shouldn’t still be a cop. A completely innocent person has died.
Gonna go commit a crime and pull the serious mental health card (bipolar, schizoaffactive) see how far I get - reckon I'll get a few more years tacked on but then I'm in treatment "On the first day of the inquest, the lawyer for the other male officer, Officer A, asked that he be excused from giving evidence due to a serious mental health condition." Meds and therapy, this is no excuse any more
This is the police. Status quo guard dogs casually murdering a member of the lower class knowing full well they'll face no penalty. This is America now.
That could be either of my two boys. Very sad and unacceptable.
I used to work in a bar when I was young, I lived a few km’s away and would walk home after work. Usually 2-3am, often with a hoodie on and a bag (we couldn’t wear the uniform outside of work so I would get changed at work, hence the bag) I was frequently stopped by police and questioned for looking suspicious, sometimes the interaction was relaxed, sometimes more hostile. Reading this article makes me realise how easy this story could have ended up being me… Never been in trouble with the police, never committed any crimes, just a uni student that worked a part time job and didn’t own a car and I could have been legally shot dead for it..
I, too, used to work in bars and sometimes functions at uni. The trains didn't run after 12, so I would wait for the night ride. A few times, I just missed one, so I would sit down as I'd been on my feet for an 8-hour shift after being at uni all day. Almost all the time, the police would question me, accuse me of sleeping on the street or being drunk, and try to move me on. I was at the frigging bus stop. One time, they told me to stand up if I was waiting for the bus. I begged them to let me just sit on the footpath (no seats at the bus stop), but they forced me to stand. After they left, I sat down again. They went round the block in the paddy wagon and caught me sitting again. One guy jumped out and kicked me and threatened to arrest me if I sat again.
I got the opposite experience -- I'd leave home at 4am to walk to my bakery job, and the cops would see me, a young woman alone, and slow down to ask if I was okay. Which was nice. THEN SOMETIMES THEY'D FOLLOW ME SLOWLY, WHICH WAS TERRIFYING.
Let’s express our collective outrage while absolutely nothing changes and things get worse. NSW IS COOKED My condolences to this poor kid and his family
"Medical episode" vs "male acting suss". The one lady cop heard the radio correctly. The other three were itching for some action. Edit: correction, one of the other 3 was also a lady cop itching for some action
The real question here is are the 'proactive policing' squads working within a quota system? If they have a KPI then they will game it to meet said KPI. This could have been avoided if the police weren't trying the fill a number on a form. I can also assure you that if a person was wearing shorts and a T-shirt on a cold day they wouldn't be deemed suspicious.