Killer Cops & TJ Hickey

[Kefentse_Bandele]

Killer cops and cover-ups

By Ray Jackson, Sydney

http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2006/655/655p6.htm

St Valentine's Day will be the second anniversary of
the death of TJ Hickey, who was mortally impaled on
a metal-spiked fence in Redfern on February 14,
2004.

According to those calling for the inquest into TJ’s
death to be reopened, TJ's impalement was brought
about by his bicycle being rammed by a Redfern
police paddy wagon driven by Constable Michael
Hollingsworth.

TJ became another death in custody statistic and the
Redfern police cover-up was carried over into the
Coroner's Court. The cover-up was also supported by
then-premier Bob Carr's government, which, from day
one, took the police's view that they had no
involvement in TJ's tragic death.

Several witnesses who had approached the Coroner's
Court were either rejected by the Legal Aid team
appointed by the state government to represent TJ's
mother, Gail Hickey, or were driven away by police
pressure. The evidence presented to the coronial
inquiry became even more restricted when items of
legal importance were not called into the inquest.
These included the bicycle ridden by TJ, which Gail
and April (TJ's girlfriend) argue had different
wheels than it had at the time of the event.



Neither the “crime scene� nor the police wagons
involved in the chase of TJ were properly
forensically examined. In fact, both wagons were
steamed clean and re-painted within weeks of the
event.

Perhaps the most telling omission was that
Hollingsworth was excused by the coroner, John
Abernethy, from taking the witness stand.

It was no surprise to anyone, least of all Gail, her
family and supporters, that the coroner found that
the Redfern police had no part in the “tragic
accident�. The police once again walked away from a
death in which they'd been involved.

TJ died in hospital early on February 15. That night
erupted into the civil unrest, which the government,
police and a compliant media continually referred to
as “the Redfern riots�. But the Redfern police also
had a hand in arranging this “riot�, the better to
shift the spotlight from the chase and ramming of
TJ's bike to endless analysis of “police bravery� on
that night.

Redfern erupted because people knew what had
happened and when TJ was pronounced dead, tensions
grew. Certain police arrogantly patrolled the Block
in their cars, and as TJ's family and friends
gathered in Pemulwuy Park in grief and shock, some
police cars stopped opposite them, smirking and
laughing.



As the news went out to other suburbs, the Block
began to fill with TJ's young friends. They came to
respect Gail and share her grief.

Some police began provoking them, aiming at them
with their hands in the shape of a gun and telling
them that they would be next.

Hollingsworth was labelled a hero by his peers, and
promoted to senior constable by Police Commissioner
Ken Moroney.

Gail Hickey has continued to fight for truth and
justice, and on December 23 Abernethy wrote to the
Indigenous Social Justice Association requesting the
names of our, as yet unheard, witnesses so he may
refer them to the Office of the Crown Solicitor.

We replied requesting until the end of February to
comply, thanked him for the opportunity to possibly
re-open the original inquest and asked that, for
safety reasons, our witnesses be interviewed by the
coroner before being referred to the Crown
Solicitor.

Justice is possible, but we now need witnesses to
lose their fear of the police, come forward and tell
what they saw.

Police cover-ups of deaths in custody are well
known. White deaths or black deaths — the police are
always exonerated by a system more interested in
protecting them than finding the truth.

Over the years there have been many deaths that have
involved the police — John Pat in WA, Eddie Murray
in NSW, Ronnie Levi at Bondi Beach, Jim Hallinan in
Tumut and so many others.

Abernethy has given us a window of opportunity and
we must use it. We need the support of all good
people in our call for truth and justice.

On February 14 we will be gathering at 11am at the
fence where TJ was impaled, at the corner of George
and Philip Streets, Waterloo. At 11.21am there will
be two minutes' silence and we will march to the
Sydney Police Centre in Goulburn Street, where
Commissioner Moroney has been invited to meet us. A
community BBQ is planned at the Block afterwards and
we invite everyone to come to the rally, march and
BBQ.

In every country there are questionable deaths in
custody. In 2001, Ken Fero and Tariq Mehmood
produced a documentary film called Injustice about
London families' struggle for justice following the
deaths in custody of their loved ones. The
Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) will be
screening Injustice on February 14, at 7pm, at the
Tom Mann Theatre, 136 Chalmers St, Surry Hills.

Gail Hickey will attend the event and speak about
TJ's death, and Letty Scott and her son Nathan will
talk about the death in custody of Douglas Bruce
Scott in Berrimah Jail in Darwin. Letty is fighting
for justice for her husband's murder by four prison
officers in 1985.

Also see: http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/...om=moreStories

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