Australia’s track record on deaths in custody is again under scrutiny, as Aboriginal people whose family members died in similar circumstances to George Floyd express solidarity with protestors on the streets of major US cities following the death of the unarmed black man.
The family of 26-year-old David Dungay, a Dunghutti man who said “I can’t breathe” 12 times before he died while being restrained by five prison guards, said they have been traumatised anew by the footage of Floyd’s death.
Dungay’s nephew, Paul Silva, said he has tried to watch the footage of the death of Floyd, who died after a police officer knelt on his neck and whose death has sparked protests across the US, but had to switch it off halfway.
“When I heard him say ‘I can’t breathe’ for the first time I had to stop it,” Silva said. “My thoughts really go out to the family and everyone on the streets in the USA. My solidarity is with them because I do know the pain they are feeling.
Dungay is one of at least 432 Aboriginal deaths in custody since the royal commission in 1991, the Guardian’s latest analysis shows. There have been at least five deaths since Guardian Australia updated its Deaths Inside project in August 2019, two of which have resulted in murder charges being laid.
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