Family of 24-year-old who died in custody ‘devastated’ as questions levelled at police response

The family of a 24-year-old Yuendumu man are “devastated” after learning he died in custody in Coles in Alice Springs, with the family patriarch levelling questions at the police response.

Ned Hargraves, Walpri Elder from the Northern Territory and Senator Lidia Thorpe holds a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The grandfather of a man who died in custody after an arrest at Coles in Alice Springs is “angry and frustrated” and wants police to “show some respect”

Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon, said the 24-year-old man who died in Coles on Tuesday was his “jaja” (grandson).

The family is devastated by the death, Mr Hargraves statement reads, while he is “angry and frustrated that yet another one of our young men has lost his life (allegedly) at the hands of the police”.

Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves in Yuendumu. Picture: Jason Walls

“We are demanding answers and justice,” he said.

“We know that he was held down by two police... he lost consciousness and perished. But at the moment we are in the dark about what really happened.”

The young man was living in Alice Springs in supported accommodation “because of his disabilities” and because “he was very vulnerable”, Mr Hargraves said.

“He needed support and not to be criminalised because of his disability,” he said.

The man, who hails from Yuendumu but had spent a number of years living in Alice Springs, died on Tuesday after he was restrained by two plainclothes police officers inside Coles in Alice Springs.

Police inside Coles in Alice Springs. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Police have alleged the young man was trying to shoplift before a security guard intervened, prior to police intervening.

Before the incident in Coles, the young man also allegedly assaulted a woman at Commonwealth Bank in Alice Springs, Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst told media at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Court documents obtained by the NT News show that in 2020 the then 19-year-old was found unfit to stand trial due to mental impairment.

The court found that due to his disability the young man was unable to understand the proceedings, plead, or communicate with his legal team due to mental impairment.

In 2020 he was placed on a non-custodial supervision order.

“The supervised person is to remain under the care and treatment of the Chief Executive Officer Department of Health, her staff, servants and agents and in particular the Central Australian Health Service,” the order stated.

A memorial for a young man who died in Coles while in police custody in Alice Springs, May 28, 2025. Picture: Gera Kazakov

His court record showed while he had some interactions with police over the next five years, all of the charges against him were withdrawn and discharged.

NT Police charged him with aggravated assault, resisting police, assaulting police, breaching bail, and trespass – all of which he was found not guilty for.

“What are the police doing using such force on a vulnerable young man in a supermarket? Did they even try to de-escalate? Why was he there alone, where were the carers who were supposed to be responsible for him?” Mr Hargraves said.

The death comes as the Yuendumu community prepares for the findings into the Kumanjayi Walker inquest to be handed down.

Assistant Commissioner Travis Wurst during a press conference at the headquarters of the Northern Territory Police, Darwin on 28 May 2025. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

Coroner Elisabeth Armitage is expected to travel to the community on June 10 to deliver the findings.

On Wednesday Assistant Commissioner Wurst said police were “very mindful” of the upcoming coronial inquest in Yuendumu.

The Coroner’s Office said it could not provide an update in relation to Ms Armitage’s plan to deliver the findings in the Walker matter.

“An update on the situation is expected by Tuesday next week,” a spokesman said.

A memorial for a young man who died while in police custody in Alice Springs, May 28, 2025. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Mr Hargraves called for “available footage of this incident immediately – both CCTV and body cam” to be released to the family.

On Wednesday afternoon, a memorial outside Coles in Alice Springs had grown, while a sign outside Coles said the supermarket would reopen on Thursday.