John Tyson's story

Interviewed by the glamorous Renee Eaves

Disgusting  Police Behaviour‏ towards elderly driver

Email from a member of the public

This incident didn't happen to me but to my elderly parents.

My father is 69 years old. He was driving along with my 65 year old mother. When they came to a red light they stopped and an unmarked police car stopped next to them. When the light changed my dad drove off knowing he had to merge and did so safely in front of the unmarked police car.

The car followed my parents for maybe 30 seconds before turning their lights on and signaling for my father to pull over. There was a male police officer and a female police officer. The male approached my father's car on the drivers side and was extremely abrupt and rude, accusing my father of speeding. My father denied this saying that he most definitely did not speed. The male police officer proceeded to tell my father that he was going 80 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. This was incorrect as the entire road is 80 km/h the whole way.

Again my father denied that he was speeding. My father asked for the male officer to give him his name twice and both times the officer refused.  My mother who was sitting in the passenger seat leant over and assured the officer that my father had not been speeding. The officer replied by telling my mother to shut up and sit back in her seat.

My mother is a petite lady and was quite shaken after being spoken to in such a manner. Again the male police officer was telling my father he had been speeding and indicated that he had "everything he needed" to give my father a ticket. My father, at this point somewhat offended on my mother's behalf asked if this had anything to do with him taking off faster than the police car at the traffic light, to which the male officer became quite irate to the point the female officer, who had stayed by the police car, called out for the male officer to just leave it and to 'let's go'.

After a few threatening words to the effect of the male police officer watching my dad from now on, he finally went back to his police car and they sped off.

As you can imagine when I was told by my mother what had happened I was absolutely disgusted with the way my parents had been treated. This is how the police chooses to conduct themselves? It is no wonder that no one trusts the police to do the right thing anymore. I myself have had bad experiences too where I was belittled and made to feel like I wasn't even a worthy human being for them to treat right.

The QLD Police force has to start looking at who they give the badge to because I think the power goes to some officers' heads and they treat us civilians almost like cattle to be pushed around and intimidated. Something needs to be done!

Via email

  CCTV catches Gold Coast cops out

Video at link

THIS is the video ex-football star Campbell Brown says shows he copped a “coathanger” from Gold Coast police.

Brown says the CCTV footage proves officers were out of bounds when they arrested him at a Broadbeach nightclub earlier this year.

Police last week dropped charges of obstructing police and attempting to force his way back into East nightclub during a night of celebrations after his horse Sweet Idea won the Magic Millions Trophy race in January.

Police initially claimed the former Gold Coast Suns player had shoulder-charged them.

But Brown has accused police of fabricating charges against him. “Police basically made up a story,’’ he told News Corp Australia last week.

“We caught them out by getting the CCTV footage of what actually happened. To be brutally honest, that was an absolute disgrace. They (police) had to throw out the case in embarrassment.’’

A police statement of facts, obtained by The Courier-Mail, alleges Brown was refused entry to East, where he had been drinking with friends, but was argumentative and refused to leave.

But his lawyer, Chris Nyst, said the CCTV footage showed “quite clearly that the incident did not occur in the way asserted by police”.

Mr Nyst said the footage showed Brown apparently waiting peacefully outside the nightclub while a friend went inside to retrieve the ex-footballer’s credit card.

It then shows Brown later being led down an alleyway by police, thrown to the ground and handcuffed after his friend becomes agitated.

“Once I had the opportunity to review the footage, it was immediately apparent to me it did not support the police version of events,’’ Mr Nyst said.

“I brought that footage to the attention of the chief prosecutor, whereupon he promptly — and in my view very sensibly — agreed to discontinue the prosecution.’’

Mr Nyst said police claims they withdrew the charges because of a lack of clarity in the footage “are simply not correct”.

“This case is a good example of why people should not prejudge such matters,’’ he said.  “Brown copped a lot of sledging from people who knew nothing about the charges. We have a presumption of innocence, and this is a timely reminder of what good sense that makes.’’

Brown was sacked by the Suns after breaking teammate Steven May’s jaw on a pre-season trip to the US last November.

Original report here

Note:  A coathanger is a dangerous high tackle in Australian rules football, Rugby League, and Rugby Union. It occurs when a running player is stopped by an arm to the chest or neck and usually gets knocked backward onto their back. ...

Police indifference kills child

THE freckled face of 13-year-old Jordan Rice made headlines around the world when he died with his mother in a flash flood that hit Toowoomba three years ago.

Blond-haired Jordan's final selfless act, urging a rescuer to save his little brother Blake ­before him, touched hearts everywhere, and moved Prince William to fly to Queensland to console his family.

But this is a story of what happens when the cameras go away and a family is left to pick up the pieces. I

It is also a story about the grim undercurrent of suspicion remaining between the survivors and authorities they feel compounded their troubles, in the wake of intense media attention.

It begins with the triple-0 call made by Donna Rice, 43, at 1.50pm on January 10, 2011, as she sat in her stalled Mercedes at a red light in a main street of Toowoomba with floodwaters swirling around her wheels. Jordan and Blake, 11, were in the back seat.

A coronial inquest found the man who answered Donna's call, Senior Constable Jason Wheeler "did not treat her call with the seriousness it warranted and did not treat her with respect". That's putting it mildly.

Wheeler chastised Donna for driving into floodwaters, when in fact the coroner found she had cautiously stopped in shallow water while other cars forged ahead.

But the water rose unusually fast and within minutes engulfed the car, forcing Donna and her boys onto the roof.

When Donna asked Wheeler to call a tow truck, he retorted: "You ring the tow truck company yourself."

He assigned Donna's call a low priority, and no help was dispatched.

Seven minutes later Jordan rang triple-0: "We're nearly drowning, hurry up please."

By then, two passing strangers Warren McErlean and Chris Skehan were risking their lives. Warren, 41, was knocked over twice in the swift-running water.

When Chris reached the car, Warren recalls Jordan and his mother urged him to take Blake.

"After Jordan told the rescuer to take me first, the guy said, 'C'mon little man, it will be OK'," Blake testified.

Chris passed the boy to Warren, who carried him to safety. But by the time he made it back to Donna and Jordan, the water had risen so fast the car was washed away. Chris managed to grab hold of a power pole but Donna and Jordan drowned.

It was a horrendous scene, watched by a screaming Blake.

But what happened next only compounded the grief.

Donna's partner and the ­father of her four boys, John Tyson, 49, still burns about police allegations that Jordan urged his mother to drive through the floodwaters, a claim later rejected by the coroner.

Police also claimed Donna displayed no urgency when talking to triple-0, and that emergency calls that day were handled "brilliantly".

John alleged in the Queensland's Floods Commission that 17 days after his wife and son died, he was heavied by a police inspector, who told him not to speak to the media about the triple-0 calls.

The officer did not return our calls but at the commission denied threatening John, and tendered the transcript of a ­recording he made of their conversation on a wristwatch recorder.

The partial transcript and audio, stored in the Queensland State Archives, do not show any threats made.

John says the transcript is incomplete and the officer's secret recording indicates an adversarial approach.

In any case, after the tragedy, John was beset by problems and felt abandoned by his hometown. He lost his plastering business, and took the $145,000 insurance money to the Gold Coast to start afresh with Blake, now 13.

He works as a labourer but struggles to pay the mortgage on his new house, and may have to return to Toowoomba.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/familys-fight-to-escape-tragedy/story-fni0cwl5-1226815649283