‘No excuse to be treated like that’: Mother calls for apology for son who died years after covid arrest

A young man’s death years after being arrested during a Covid lockdown has left Aussies shattered. His grieving mother said he had just one message.

EXCLUSIVE

The mother of a deceased man who was four years ago thrown to the ground by a police officer during Melbourne’s Covid lockdown has called for an apology from the officer involved.

In a disturbing incident which would go on to make national headlines, Melbourne man Daniel Peterson-English was filmed being tackled to the ground at Flinders Street Station by acting sergeant Beau Barrett after he was arrested on September 22, 2021.

The footage, which circulated widely on social media around the world at the time, showed then-Acting Sergeant Barrett walking up behind Mr Peterson-English before throwing him to the ground, causing his head to hit the hard floor.

Sergeant Barrett was suspended and charged with recklessly causing injury and assault over the incident, which occurred on the same day an anti-lockdown protest was held in the city’s CBD.

However the case was later dismissed. The Court was told at the time that Peterson-English had taunted officer multiple times, and had heard about the circumstances of the day including escalating crowds.

As first reported by news.com.au, Mr Peterson-English, who had suffered from mental health and other health complications before his arrest, died earlier this year on March 15.

His cause of death has not been confirmed and a coroner’s report will be released next month. There is no suggestion that it occurred as a result of the tackle.

Mr Peterson-English was thrown to the ground when he was arrested in September 2021.

Before his death, Mr Peterson-English told his mother he wanted Sergeant Barrett to personally apologise for the “horrendous” incident, which left her son with facial injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard.

“He (Daniel) said to me many times, ‘I just want an apology from him’,” Margaret English told news.com.au.

“That’s what is needed,” she added. “I’d like to see an apology.”

Ms English, a retired nurse of 40 years, said it was an “important” gesture and she was “shocked” to learn the officer had returned to operational duties following an internal investigation.

“I couldn’t believe that, that could happen,’ she said. “If a nurse had done that, they would be deregistered.

“There would have been severe consequences if Daniel had done it to a member of the police force. If he had come up from behind … and grabbed someone and ended up smashing their head (on the ground).”

Mr Peterson-English passed away in March. Picture: Instagram.

Ms English said Sergeant Barrett’s temporary suspension “wasn’t good enough”.

“It just wasn’t enough,” she said.

In a statement to news.com.au, Victoria Police said: “The internal discipline board has finalised an investigation into an incident at Flinders Street railway station on 22 September, 2021”.

“A senior constable from north-west metro has undergone further training and has returned to operational duties following the incident that occurred while they were on-duty.”

‘Disturbing’ incident

In the distressing footage of Mr Peterson-English’s arrest, the 32-year-old’s head could be heard hitting the hard floor and a pair of headphones was knocked off.

According to a caption written by the woman who initially posted the video, Mr Peterson-English was knocked unconscious and there was “blood and urine everywhere”.

“This poor guy was calm, he was just talking to the police,” the caption read.

“You can see it in the video then he gets thrown to the ground. You can hear his face hit the tiles.”

The woman later told news.com.au the man was unconscious “for a while” and when he woke up was calling for his mother.

“We are all very disturbed by this and I’ve been inundated with people worldwide wanting to know if this man is all right,” she said.

Mr Peterson-English was approached from behind and thrown to the ground.

The distressing video was widely circulated on social media.

Before he was tackled to the ground, Mr Peterson-English was arrested, fined for not wearing a mask, and released, The Age reported. He then returned to the area where he was tackled to the ground.

Mr Peterson-English’s lawyer, Kim Bainbridge said the incident was followed by a “severe psychiatric reaction”.

“He had pre-existing mental health issues which have been exacerbated by the trauma that he suffered at the hands of this police officer,” Mr Bainbridge said in 2022. There is no suggestion the police officer was aware of the mental health issues.

‘Broke my heart’

Ms English was upset to hear her son – who she said had a mask exemption the day of his arrest – was calling out for her when he woke.

That day, Ms English was at work and her phone was away in her locker at the hospital when she received “confused messages” from her son.

“It broke my heart (hearing he called for me) because I wasn’t there,” she said.

“The guilt I felt because I wasn’t there and I was at work. I couldn’t answer the phone … there’s still a lot of guilt on my part.”

Mr Peterson-English was very close with his mother. Picture: Supplied to news.com.au/Mark Tarrant

Her heart broke when she learnt he had called for her. Picture: Supplied to news.com.au/Mark Tarrant

Her son told her he had travelled from their Melbourne home, where he lived in a bungalow in the backyard, to the CBD not to attend the anti-lockdown protest but rather to visit Melbourne’s homeless, whom he considered friends and would give food and money to when he saw them.

After the attack, Ms English came home and found her son visibly distressed, along with his NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) carer.

“He was angry … he was mulling and no one could really understand what had happened, we couldn’t get much sense out of him,” she said.

It wasn’t until she saw the “awful” footage of her son’s arrest that she learnt the true extent of what happened that day.

“I was really shocked that someone … I mean, they (police) are here to protect us. It was horrendous,” she said.

“There’s no reason, no excuse for any human being to be treated like that.”

She said her son’s headphones, which were knocked to the floor and broken, were given to Mr Peterson-English by his late father, who passed away a few years earlier.

Ms English was so shaken by the incident she quit nursing the same day, leaving behind her four-decade-long career.

“I never went back after that day, never. I needed to be there for my son.”

Mr Peterson-English said he lived with post-traumatic stress disorder from his arrest.

‘Sling tackle’ after ‘taunt’

In 2022, Melbourne Magistrates’ Court heard Mr Peterson-English had attended an anti-lockdown rally in the city on the day of his arrest, but had found himself displaced from protesters and began to “taunt” officers at the station.

Witness Jacob Wright, a Victoria Police protective services officer, told the court Mr Peterson-English was “swearing and rambling” as he filmed officers inside the station.

Zachery McLeod, another officer present, described Mr Peterson-English’s behaviour as “heightened”, and said he was constantly shouting anti-police rhetoric.

In footage played to the court, Mr Peterson-English could be heard calling police “dogs”, “pigs” and using swear words.

Acting Senior Sergeant Luke Billing said he watched the arrest unfold, describing how Sergeant Barrett allegedly used a “seat belt take-down”, which police are trained to use.

He said Mr Peterson-English slipped during the manoeuvre, and landed on his head.

Senior Sergeant Matthew Hargreaves, a Victoria Police expert from the Centre of Operational Safety who reviewed the footage, alleged Sergeant Barrett used a “sling tackle” during the arrest.

“We consider it to be dangerous, a process that should be avoided,” he said.

“The technique doesn’t demonstrate due care to minimise risk of injury.”

Flinders Street Station. Picture: Josie Hayden

The case was thrown out in 2023, with Magistrate Rob Stary finding a jury could not conclude whether Sergeant Barrett had acted unlawfully.

“It may be that the arrest was executed in a way that is not in strict accordance with the manual, but whether it could be said to be unlawful and whether it could be said to be done without any regard to the probable consequences and criminal intent, in my view a jury properly instructed could not convict A/SGT Barrett of those offences,” he told the court.

Mr Stary said Mr Peterson-English had disregarded repeated requests from the officers to leave the station.

“Mr Peterson-English acts in a manner that is entirely provocative,” Mr Stary said at the time.

Victoria Police reached a confidential settlement with Mr Peterson-English. A Sydney lawyer and filmmaker who featured Mr Peterson-English’s arrest in his documentary, believes Mr Peterson-English was subject to a gag order as part of his settlement.

Mr Peterson-English’s death

Before Mr Peterson-English’s death, Ms English said her son was living with mental health issues, in part from his father’s passing seven years ago, and had been admitted to psychiatric hospitals on more than one occasion. He also suffered from cardiac and liver issues, among other health complications.

”There were times where he would talk to himself, and he would yell and carry on, and he’d be wandering the streets at times, suffering from psychosis,” she said.

“Sometimes people thought he was abusing them, but he was just talking to himself and yelling and ranting and raving. He was very unwell at times.”

Calling out Melbourne’s “broken mental health system”, she said it was a “battle” to get her son the assistance he needed.

But she praised the efforts of local police, who would return her son home when he was lost, as well as paramedics who helped when he was experiencing physical issues such as chest pain.

In the months leading up to his death, Ms English said her son had become depressed, had trouble sleeping and eating, and had become visibly thinner.

Ms English said her son was a “very intelligent and “very kind” person. Picture: Supplied to news.com.au/Mark Tarrant

In March, Ms English knocked on the door of her son’s bungalow but he didn’t answer. Worried, but thinking he may have been sleeping or had headphones on, she used a spare key to let herself in with his NDIS worker.

“We found him and we tried to resuscitate him. I immediately yelled to the NDIS worker to ring for the paramedics and I tried to resuscitate him,” she recalled.

“Then we swapped places. He took over doing the CPR, and I took over talking … But we couldn’t (save him), he passed,” she said as her voice broke.

“As a mother to lose a child who was only 32 years old, I’d rather have my legs and my arms amputated,” she added through tears.

Ms English, who celebrated her first Mother’s Day without her son last weekend, is hoping the coroner’s report will provide much-needed answers.

In the meantime, she takes some comfort knowing her son has joined his late father, late grandmother and beloved pet cat – all of whom passed away seven years ago.

She described her son as a “very intelligent” and “very kind” person.

“I had beautiful school reports, and they would say, he would look after the little ones. When he was a senior student, he’d look after the ones who were being bullied.”

“We were very close and when he was only young, coming home from school, he would just pick flowers on the way home (for me).”

Her son would also write messages for her.

In one, which she had come across on Wednesday, he wrote: “Always remember, others may hate you. Those who hate you don’t win, unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”

It’s why she is trying to follow the path of forgiveness and would like to see an apology from the police officer involved in her son’s arrest, rather than any other further disciplinary action taken against him.

“I’m someone who believes in forgiveness. I just think forgiveness is really important. This has been hard … but an apology is needed and is important.”

News.com.au contacted Victoria Police to respond to Ms English’s request for an apology. However they did not wish to provide a statement.

– With NCA NewsWire