Tyler Jordan Cassidy was a 15-year-old boy who was killed by
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victo ...
officers in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
in 2008. His death influenced changes in the way Victoria Police respond to people presenting as mentally ill, and in the use of
taser
A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...
s.
Shooting
Tyler Jordan Cassidy was shot by police and died on 11 December 2008 at
All Nations Park in
Northcote, Victoria
Northcote () is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Melbourne City Centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Darebin Local government areas of Victoria, lo ...
. Before the shooting, Cassidy had armed himself with two large knives which he had stolen from a nearby shopping centre and threatened members of the public, insisting that they call the police. In the park, police demanded that Cassidy drop the knives, but he did not. After attempting to subdue Cassidy twice with
pepper spray
Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, or capsicum spray is a lachrymatory agent (a compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, cr ...
, three officers fired ten shots from their
Smith & Wesson Model 10
The Smith & Wesson Model 10, previously known as the Smith & Wesson .38 Hand Ejector Model of 1899, the Smith & Wesson Military & Police or the Smith & Wesson Victory Model, is a K-frame revolver of worldwide popularity. In production since 1899 ...
.38 Special
The .38 Special, also commonly known as .38 S&W Special (not to be confused with .38 S&W), .38 Smith & Wesson Special, .38 Spl, .38 Spc, (pronounced "thirty-eight special"), or 9x29mmR is a rimmed, centerfire cartridge designed by Smith & ...
revolvers, with five of these striking Cassidy.
Investigations
The
Coroners Court of Victoria
The name of "Coroners Court" is the generic name given to proceedings in which a Coroner holds an inquest in Victoria.
Jurisdiction
Coroners have jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause ...
found that there was much public commentary of the incident and that the death of "a 15-year-old boy at the hands of the Victoria Police both shocked and bewildered us as a community". The competence and impartiality of the internal police investigation was questioned. The Coroner's Inquest heard 34 days of evidence from 63 witnesses, and the brief of evidence was 3,710 pages long.
From the inquest: "He
assidyhad been capsicum-sprayed twice without effect and advanced on an officer who became trapped at the top of a skate park bowl, the coroner found. Three of the police fired at him after a warning shot and several shots at his legs failed to stop Tyler moving forward with the knives towards
eading Senior Constable Colin Dods Tyler had been drinking excessively during the night and was found to have a post mortem blood alcohol level of between 0.09g/100ml and 0.11g/100ml." State Coroner Jennifer Coate rejected a submission from Cassidy's family that the officers used disproportionate force worthy of criminal charges, or that Cassidy had been standing still when he was fatally shot.
The incident was blamed on a lack of training and information gathering performed by Victoria Police and also blamed on an individual attempting to attack police while wielding two knives. Subsequently, all police officers who might come into contact with individuals who appear to be mentally ill in the course of duty are required to undergo a two-day training course twice a year.
Family's appeal to the UN
Following the closing of the case by Australian police and determining that the officers acted within the bounds of their duty, Cassidy's mother, Shani Cassidy, appealed to the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
for a review of the process by which fatal police shootings are investigated by the Victoria Police Homicide Squad. The author of the UN submission, Anna Brown, expected no additional evidence regarding the investigation to be elicited.
Among the complaints were allegations of poor investigative police work. Three of the four police officers involved attended a police function where alcohol was served the night before the fatal shooting occurred, but no alcohol or drug testing was administered at the time of the incident. Ten shots were fired but no bullets were recovered from the crime scene. Dods received a private phone call from his commanding officer immediately after the event; an issue Dods himself was highly critical about when cross examined.
Gunshot residue testing was significantly delayed, possibly leading to inconclusive results. No reconstruction was requested of the officers.
Police integrity
Shani Cassidy made complaints over the integrity of Victoria Police. She alleged that her son's name was disclosed to the media as well as a "demonising" report of the incident after less than three hours of it occurring. Assistant Commissioner Cartwright, then the appointed officer for communicating with the media regarding the event, was accused of disclosing Cassidy's name by the family's counsel, but Victoria Police has strongly denied these accusations.
At one time Shani Cassidy was secretly recorded by homicide detectives during an interview. Her appeal to the UN raised her complaint that following the incident Victoria Police attempted to exculpate themselves.
In June 2015, ''
The Age
''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...
'' reported that this Wikipedia page had been edited by Victoria Police at least 17 times up until November 2014, apparently to give a more favourable impression of the officers' conduct and the subsequent investigation.
Debate over use of tasers
Former
chief commissioner
A chief commissioner is a commissioner of a high rank, usually in chief of several commissioners or similarly styled officers.
Colonial
In British India the gubernatorial style was chief commissioner in various (not all) provinces (often after be ...
of
Victoria Police
Victoria Police is the primary law enforcement agency of the Australian States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It was formed in 1853 and currently operates under the ''Victoria Police Act 2013''.
, Victo ...
Christine Nixon
Christine Nixon (born 11 June 1953) is an Australian former police officer who was the chief commissioner of Victoria Police from 23 April 2001 to 27 February 2009, being the first female chief commissioner in any Australian state police force. ...
has suggested that Cassidy's death prompted further community debate about the use of tasers by Victoria Police. In 2010, tasers were trialed in Bendigo and Morwell "because of the high use of OC spray, incidents involving people with a mental illness, sieges and instances where offenders have used weapons". In 2016, tasers were made more widely available to Victoria Police. Deputy Commissioner Wendy Steendam said "What Tasers do for our members is to actually offer them another option in resolutions of incidents where they're having violent confrontations or where people are attempting to self-harm."
Defamation case of 2016
In May 2016, lawyer Michael McDonald was found to have defamed Sergeant Colin Dods and ordered to pay damages. Justice Kevin Bell described the defamatory comments, made online, as "very grave. The publication caused (Sergeant Dods) to suffer continuing intense distress, humiliation and embarrassment and thereby great harm in his reputation.".
See also
*
Killing of Adam Salter
Adam Salter was shot and killed in his Sydney home in November 2009 after police responded to a call that the 36-year-old was stabbing himself with a knife. He was shot in the back by a New South Wales Police Sergeant Sheree Bissett who yelled "T ...
*
Death of Beto Laudisio
Roberto Laudisio Curti (died 18 March 2012), known as Beto Laudisio, was a 21-year-old man from São Paulo, Brazil. He died on 18 March 2012 after being pursued, tackled, tasered, sprayed with OC spray, and physically compressed under the weigh ...
*
Killing of Michael Capel
Michael Capel, 43, a man with schizophrenia, died on 10 October 2008, from multiple gunshot wounds during a confrontation with police at Belmont, near Newcastle, New South Wales. The shooting followed reports that Capel had assaulted his mother a ...
*
Rod Ansell
Rodney William Ansell (1 October 1954 – 3 August 1999) was an Australian cattle grazier and a buffalo hunter. Described to be from "the bush", Ansell became famous in 1977 after he was stranded in extremely remote country in the Northern Terri ...
*
Rosie Batty
Rosemary Anne "Rosie" Batty (born 1962) is an English-born Australian domestic violence campaigner. She became a campaigner in 2014, after her 11-year-old son Luke Batty was murdered by his father, Greg Anderson. She was made Australian of the Y ...
References
External links
Coroner's Report, Inquest into the death of Tyler Jordan Cassidy, 23 November 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassidy, Tyler
Deaths by firearm in Victoria (Australia)
Deaths by person in Australia
Mental health law in Australia
People shot dead by law enforcement officers in Australia