Family Outraged After Police Wrongly Detain Indigenous Teenager
The family of an Aboriginal teenager has condemned what they describe as "extreme" and "unnecessary" force after ACT police officers mistakenly arrested the 17-year-old at gunpoint in Woden. The incident occurred on November 20, 2025, when three police officers boarded a public bus searching for a different teenager suspected of armed robbery.
Kristie Peters, the boy's aunt, expressed her family's distress, stating: "A child who had never committed a crime was treated like a criminal. Our nephew didn't match the description of the young boy they were looking for. The only thing that matched was the colour of his skin."
Traumatic Arrest Details Emerge
According to family accounts, the teenager was traveling to his cousin's house when the confrontation occurred. Officers pointed a gun at the youth, stopped the Transport Canberra bus, and forcibly removed him from the vehicle. Witnesses described how police slammed him onto the ground while multiple officers placed their knees on his back, causing him pain and difficulty breathing.
The situation escalated quickly despite the teenager's compliance with police directions. Family members revealed that police only realized their error when they compared the detained youth to a photograph of the actual suspect. Even after acknowledging they had the wrong person, officers proceeded to search the teenager.
"Even after admitting they had the wrong boy, the officers still searched our nephew. That is not policing, that is abuse," Ms Peters said, calling the incident "a clear example of police brutality and racial profiling at its finest."
Community Leaders Demand Accountability
The teenager's family was joined by multiple community leaders and advocacy groups at a press conference on Thursday morning, where they expressed deep concern about the incident's impact on Indigenous communities.
Julie Tongs, chief executive of Winnunga Nimmitijyah, warned that such actions create widespread fear: "Kids are going to be terrified to get on a bus. Police need to back off, they need to stop targeting, racial profiling... our mob are just terrified."
Barbara Causon, the acting commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, emphasized that while police have an important role in community safety, "this innocent young boy was not safe." She highlighted the broader consequences: "He simply caught a bus to visit his cousins. He was hurt, he was traumatised. We need to understand the ripple effect of incidents like this."
Kaylene McLeod, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body justice and community safety representative, described the incident as "a catastrophic failure of judgement, process, and humanity." She asserted that "there is no world in which this response is justified."
Police Defend Actions Amid Growing Criticism
ACT Policing acknowledged the wrongful arrest would have been distressing for the teenager and other bus passengers in an online statement released shortly before Chief Police Officer Deputy Commissioner Scott Lee addressed the media.
Deputy Commissioner Lee revealed that police had met with the family on Monday but couldn't provide all contextual information at that time. While he apologized to the young person for the misidentification and resulting trauma, he stated that after reviewing body-worn camera footage, he supported the officers' actions.
"Given police were responding to multiple eyewitness reports of an active armed offender in a heavily populated area of Canberra, officers acted with the immediate aim of preventing a worst-case scenario from occurring," Lee explained.
The deputy commissioner detailed that within approximately two minutes, officers realized their mistake based on witness descriptions and released the teenager from arrest. He noted that police had distributed a CCTV photograph of the actual suspect, and once this was compared to the detained youth, the error became apparent.
Lee defended the decision to search the teenager after his arrest, citing "a previous interaction that the young person had had with police in the weeks prior."
Investigation and Community Fallout
The incident will be reviewed by the Australian Federal Police's professional standards command in consultation with the ACT Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is expected to decide on Friday what involvement their office will have in the investigation.
Deputy Commissioner Lee expressed concern about the incident's impact on police relationships with First Nations communities in the territory: "It is something that we need to work hard on to seek to re-establish that trust and good understanding."
Thomas Emerson MLA, who stood alongside family members during the press conference, described the incident as "disgusting" and revealed that police put the boy back on the bus without an apology. He posed a chilling question to journalists: "What if this child had resisted arrest? What's the conversation we'd be having today?"
The teenager's elder brother shared that his sibling had been mentally replaying the incident and blaming himself. "He kept thinking about what he could have done different and I keep trying to tell him... it wasn't his fault... he did nothing wrong," the brother said.
As the community processes this event, support services remain available for those affected, including 13YARN (13 92 76), Kids Helpline (1800 55 1800), Lifeline (13 11 14), and the Men's Referral Service (1300 766 491).
