Saturday, May 21, 2011

Spratt Inquiry continues: April Hearings (Part 3)

Departmental bosses were grilled before last month's hearings at the CCC inquiry into the treatment of Kevin Spratt.



On 19 April, 2011, WA Police Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan said that when he opted for disciplinary measures instead of criminal charges against the Watch House officers, he understood it to be in keeping with the wishes of Kevin Spratt.  The disciplinary process resulted in a $1200 fine for Troy Tomlin - who tasered Mr Spratt 4x, and a $750 fine for Grant Strahan, who tasered Mr Spratt 10x, and who was later promoted to the rank of sergeant.

The police 'flow chart' about Kevin Spratt, according to the Police Commissioner, was to correct confusion and widespread misinformation after the release of the video that showed Mr Spratt being tasered at the Perth Watch House. The Police Commissioner said, "no matter what we have said in regard to the material, the way it was released or the flow chart, it is not an excuse for what happened to Kevin Spratt. He has been apologised to and I don't resile from that position...what happened to Kevin Spratt was wrong."


The taser policy has changed since August 2008, and taser use is only permitted where there is an imminent risk of serious harm, although tasers were never intended to be used to force compliance.


On 16 September 2008, the then Superintendent of the Police Complaints Administration Centre Graham Moon received a complaint regarding the incident at the Watch House on 31 August, 2008. Moon notified Deputy Commissioner Chris Dawson, who escalated the investigation referring it to Internal Affairs. 

Superintendent Moon said, "it was probably ... one of the worst I'd seen in the time I had been in the police complaints administration area." "I believe that the actions of the officers to taser Mr Spratt on numerous occasions was unwarranted and unjustified," he said. "I had some concerns about the version of events that was supplied by the officers, and when you looked at the video - I basically pointed out that... some of that information they provided surely couldn't stack up to what they were actually saying and those matters needed to be investigated thoroughly." 

Moon said he was shocked no-one took charge of the situation... "and that no-one actually took the initiative to handcuff Mr Spratt, pick him up and take him into the lockup, put him a padded cell if they believed he was violent or whatever. I found that to be quite hard to fathom."  Moon described the way it was handled, as "totally over the top."

Department of Corrective Services Commissioner Ian Johnson said changes were needed to reduce risk to detainees and improve the ESG's performance. Giving evidence on 18 April, 2011, Ian Johnson said police handovers of prisoners needed to be more detailed. The use of force used by police needed to be fully documented, so the ESG could make informed choices regarding further use of force, and medical staff should be available at the Watch House. Mr Johnson said the ESG had only used tasers on six occasions since 2006, and added that there was nothing secretive about the unit, including their use of force and the videos they made of their operations.

Hearings one week earlier examined the evidence of Corrective Services' elite ESG officers, most of whom had their identities protected. The video of Kevin Spratt's reception at Casuarina Prison was played to the CCC hearing and then in the days following, it was publicly released, in accord with Mr Spratt's wishes. The 6 September 2008 CCTV video showed Mr Spratt being extracted from a Perth Watch-House cell by the heavily armoured and masked ESG officers, and the naked and unarmed man is heard praying for his life, and tasered 11 times by two senior ESG officers.


At the hearing on 11 April 2011 the then ESG Acting Assistant Superintendent said police had briefed ESG officers during the handover process about "numerous physical engagements with police that took place prior to the cell extraction."

Casuarina Prison staff, including the medical officers, were subsequently told to prepare for an extremely violent prisoner but were surprised when they found him on arrival to be, quiet, dishevelled, praying, and suffering in pain.
'Officer D,' a senior prison officer, said when the then ESG Superintendent Jim Schilo rang him, he instructed him to prepare the staff(12 to 15 Casuarina Prison and infirmary staff) for an "extremely violent" prisoner, who had assaulted and injured several police.

Perth Watch-House Police Sergeant Nicholas Rowe told the inquiry that calling the ESG was his idea, but the 'cell extraction' was planned by the ESG. "The basic conversation was ... they go in basically by surprise or not give warning because ...he had been erratic for four hours," he said. However, some ESG officers told the inquiry that they didn't think Mr Spratt could hear them identify themselves at the commencement of the cell extraction because he was screaming.

Sgt Rowe said the sergeant he replaced at the Watch House on that shift, had sought medical attention after he tried to negotiate with Mr Spratt, and got Spratt's blood on his face.  Rowe said on 6 September 2008 prior to his departure, Mr Spratt's only recorded injuries on the police running sheet was a little bleeding from his nose or lip.

After the cell extraction, Mr Spratt was transferred to Casuarina Prison infirmary, his hands and feet were shackled. ESG 'Officer B' said when transporting Mr Spratt, that one of the other ESG officers had told him that Mr Spratt was "throwing himself around" the van.  

After Mr Spratt's removal from the ESG van he was put in a wheelchair and later diagnosed with at least one broken rib, a badly collapsed lung and pneumothorax, a dislocated right shoulder and a comminuted fracture of the humerus. The CCTV footage from Casuarina showed Kevin Spratt screaming with pain upon removal from the van and at the infirmary.

One of the prison infirmary nurses said Spratt seemed compliant but in some pain. No one had mentioned that he was injured and she was told he was "psychotic and drug affected." Officer "D," a Casuarina Prison officer, said Mr Spratt was in pain and "speaking in tongues."  "He didn't appear to be threatening or violent...he appeared more upset and definitely dishevelled and looked like he'd been sleeping rough..." 

Kevin Spratt at the Rally for Humaneness November 13, 2010 - pic copyright
MSM media coverage here