Human rights query into police stranglehold linked to Nixon-McKellar death

Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall has written to the police over their continued use of a controversial stranglehold linked to the 2021 death of a young Aboriginal man.

Steven Nixon-McKellar suffered a cardiac arrest when police applied a stranglehold as he resisted arrest in 2021.

Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall has written to the police over their continued use of a controversial stranglehold linked to the 2021 death of a young Aboriginal man.

Mr McDougall has sought a meeting with Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll, who last week conceded she was concerned about her officers’ use of the stranglehold.

Ms Carroll has taken over an internal review into the use of the “lateral vascular neck restraint” – banned by police services across the rest of Australia – after revelations by The Weekend Australian about the death of Steven Nixon-McKellar.

Earlier this month it was revealed Nixon-McKellar suffered a cardiac arrest when police applied the method as he resisted arrest in Toowoomba on October 7, 2021 after being confronted at the wheel of a stolen car.

Police could not resuscitate the 27-year-old at the scene, and an autopsy concluded that the use of the stranglehold on Nixon-McKellar – who had ice in his system and suffered several heath conditions – was “a significant contributory factor” in his death.

Queensland Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall. Picture: Liam Kidston

Queensland Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll. Picture: AAP Image/Darren England

It was also reported that the Queensland Police Service had conducted a secret review last year into the use of the stranglehold, with leaked documents showing a decision had been made to retain its use despite warnings from other police services that it was too dangerous.

Legal, health and Aboriginal advocates have complained that their input was not sought in the review, ordered by state coroner Terry Jones after the 2018 death of another Indigenous man, Trevor King, who police had tried to subdue with the hold.

Mr McDougall was among those excluded from the review.

He confirmed he had now sought a meeting with the police commissioner to discuss the review of the technique, and “to ensure that the Queensland Police Service’s policies and practices are compliant with Queensland legislation including the Human Rights Act 2019’’.

The former director of Queensland Health’s Clinical Forensic Medical Unit, Bob Hoskins, told The Weekend Australian he was surprised the technique had been recategorised in the police Operational Procedures Manual.

Dr Hoskins gave expert evidence in a 2005 inquiry into the use of the stranglehold by police on 20-year-old Samuel Hogan, which left him with a severe brain injury and in a vegetative state.

In the inquiry, conducted by the then Crime and Misconduct Commission, Dr Hoskins said it “may be prudent” not to use the method at all.

At the time, it was categorised as “lethal force” in the police OPM and, like firearms, was described as a “last resort option”.

But now the stranglehold is categorised as a general “use of force” technique. Officers are trained to use it in situations that are “high risk”, when there is immediate operational necessity or officers are acting in self-defence.

The manual says the method involves compressing arteries and veins in the neck to cut off blood supply to the brain, leading to “altered levels of consciousness”.

Dr Hoskins said this was dangerous and that a taser, also used by police, was preferable.

“The (police) OPMs used to be written in such a way that the LVNR was considered a lethal use of force,’’ he said. “At some point it has been recategorised to a less than lethal use of force.

“How and why did that happen and where is the risk assessment on which it was based?”

At a March 14 press conference, Ms Carroll said she had asked for more information from the working group that conducted the review of the method and voted to retain its use late last year.