Andrew John Bornen, 16, was killed while lying in the middle of the road of a busy street outside of Ipswich, Australia. Bornen was not engaging in some high school prank. He was lying face down in the middle of street with his hands cuffed behind him at the insistence of the police. The prosecutors have decided that no charges will be filed against the Queensland officers.
Police were responding to a report of a man with a machete and arrested Bornen who was carrying a baseball bat. An inquest confirmed that he was not acting aggressive in any way. Yet, the police left him face down in the middle of a busy road until he was run over.
The director of public prosecutions, Tony Moynihan SC, insisted that “[t]here is no suggestion that the police officers were acting unlawfully or not in the execution of their duty in arresting Andrew Bornen who was intoxicated and armed in public . . . Given the momentary opportunity the police officers had to assess and act in this situation, the efforts made to alert the driver of the vehicle and the contribution of the driver of the vehicle which ran over and killed Mr Bornen, there is no reasonable prospect of a conviction.’’
In what he described as a ‘‘terrible error of judgment,’’ the officers not only left him in the road but positioned their police car so that its headlights blinded approaching cars. They failed to put on their emergency lights.
Source: Brisbane
Did the police car have one of those video cameras that some police cars have?
Not knowing Australian law, it is hard to know what the officers might be charged with, but negligent homicide comes to mind. I wonder if the Aussies have a civil remedy for wrongful death? At any rate, no matter what the boy had done to get arrested, there is no excuse at all for what happened to him. Not only that, but the poor motorist who ran over him will live with the terrible aftermath the rest of his life.
The boy was carrying a baseball bat. That is an event so unusual, that I am sure any officer should arrest any teenage boy carrying such a weapon of mass destruction. Not!
Blouise wrote:
It’s murder … failure to prosecute simply expands the number of those responsible … rather like Obama and torture
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Well said, Blouise. I didn’t want to go there — I was looking for some other explanation but, bottom line, in the absence of any other information, that’s exactly what it appears to be: a cold-blooded murder.
Well said Blouise.
It’s murder … failure to prosecute simply expands the number of those responsible … rather like Obama and torture
Edit: “…faith in the law enforcement community”
Well that makes sense, I mean, what would you charge a boy that’s been run over with Jay Walking?
Now, just let me go read the article to make sure I can keep my faith in our law enforcement community.
Let’s see what the civil suit says about this.
BBB,
You hit it on head. These officers were in charge of this detained individual and any harm that came to him is their responsibility. What would the prosecutor have done if the victim had fought off the policemen successfully and used their own handcuffs to detain them and left them in the road to be run over? I am just guessing that there would be a “reasonable prospect of a conviction”.
These are the not-so-distant cousins of the crackers and rednecks of the US. Add in the cop mentality, stir. Surprised?
When a police officer handcuffs someone, that officer takes responsibility for the safety and welfare of the person in their custody. At a minimum, the officer who handcuffed Andrew should be charged with involuntary manslaughter.
If we citizens have a ‘‘terrible error of judgment,” that results in another person’s death, we are charged with at least some degree of manslaughter, if not negligent homicide.
There are otherwise very good people in prison because of a split-second error in their judgment.
If you want to be a murderer and get away with it go into law enforcement.
“…not only left him in the road but positioned their police car so that its headlights blinded approaching cars. They failed to put on their emergency lights.” (from the article)
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…and no charges. Wish I could say that I’m surprised. Unconscionable, at best… Another sign of the times.
A poor excuse is better than none, but it should at LEAST be believable!!
(These weren’t the Keystone cops….right?)
Must be cuz they live upside down, stupid buggers.
It happened because they all drive on wrong side of road. If they don’t drive on wrong side of road, perhaps it wouldn’t have happened.
This is an error of judgment?
‘‘terrible error of judgment,’
To say the least.
This just goes to show that Australia can match any of the police and legal system outrages of the US.