NTPA’s Nathan Finn demands apology from Action for Alice’s Darren Clarke over pedestrian death

The NT Police Association has demanded a public apology from a prominent social media commentator for what it labelled ‘baseless allegations’ of a ‘cover-up’.

The Northern Territory Police Association has delivered an extraordinary spray to a Territory business owner and anti-crime activist whose social media posts have put Alice Springs crime in the national spotlight.

Union president Nathan Finn demanded a retraction and public apology from Action for Alice 2020 administrator Darren Clarke after he accused NT Police of failing to reveal details of a domestic violence incident before a woman was struck by a car and killed on Gap Road on Monday evening.

NT Police Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole denied there was any link between a pedestrian death and domestic violence incident at the Alice Springs Hospital.

On Tuesday, Mr Clarke published claims a domestic violence incident in the hospital’s emergency department was linked to the woman’s death, before expressing concern the full story had not been told.

There were claims the woman had been chased out of the hospital by a man and then ran onto the road where she was struck.

“Why have the police not reported what led to the alleged incident? Especially when there are so many witnesses. A lady was bashed and a victim of domestic violence is inside our hospital,” Mr Clarke wrote.

Police say the woman died when she ‘fell on the road’ outside the Alice Springs Hospital on Monday evening.

“We would now expect police media to do a full release with all the facts. Our women deserve to be safe regardless of race or colour.”

Mr Finn returned serve on social media, saying the claims were “baseless allegations” and called for a retraction and public apology.

“Whoever shared that gossip with you didn’t have their facts right and you didn’t bother checking,” he wrote.

The confusion stemmed in part from the failure of police to issue a media statement after the pedestrian death.

The first written comment from police, which made no mention of domestic violence, was released on Thursday, four days after the incident.

It said the woman “fell on the road” and after two cars swerved to avoid her was struck by a passing vehicle that did not stop, although the driver later returned to the scene.

The scene of the pedestrian fatality shortly after the woman’s death on Monday evening. Picture: Action for Alice 2020.

Assistant Commissioner Martin Dole met with Mr Clarke in person on Thursday to explain the police perspective.

He confirmed there had been a domestic violence incident in the hospital around the time the woman had been struck by the vehicle but checks of CCTV had shown that incident was unrelated to the fatality.

He said there was evidence of a “small interaction” between the deceased woman outside the hospital, but that this was not connected to her death.

Speaking to the NT News, Assistant Commissioner Dole defended the delay in releasing details of the assault.

“Sometimes police media releases in the first instance may not have a lot of detail,” he said. “We like to investigate first and be sure of the information we’re releasing to make sure it’s correct.

“We have been confidently able to establish the exact movement of the victim right up until she was struck by the motor vehicle and can say with some confidence there is no way the lady was involved in a domestic violence incident in the hospital that evening.”

Mr Clarke acknowledged the police response but said more questions required answering, including what happened to the actual DV victim.

He vowed to continue fighting for proper police disclosure of DV crimes and said CCTV of the incident should be made public.