Melbourne, June 15: A 42-year-old Indian-origin man has died days after an Australian police officer allegedly knelt on his neck during an attempted arrest, a media report said on Sunday.
Gaurav Kundi, 42, from Modbury North in Adelaide, died surrounded by his family on Thursday after he was hospitalised for an “unrecoverable” brain injury, 7News Australia reported.
Police attempted to arrest Kundi on Payneham Rd at Royston Park, alleging that it witnessed an “altercation” between him and a woman.
The video footage of the incident showed Kundi being forced by police while he and his wife, Amritpal Kaur, loudly protested.
“I’ve done nothing wrong,” Kundi shouted while Kaur filmed and cried out that the police were acting unfairly.
Kundi was rushed to the hospital after his condition declined and he “became unresponsive” during the attempted arrest.
Police said Kundi violently resisted the arrest and was intoxicated.
It said the couple was allegedly arguing, and a passing patrol reportedly mistook the incident for domestic violence.
However, Kaur said his husband was simply drunk and loud, not violent.
Meanwhile, South Australian (SA) Police Commissioner Grant Stevens told ABC Radio Adelaide it would investigate the incident in addition to a probe by the internal investigation section detectives.
The inquiry would review SA Police’s policies, practices, procedures, including training in relation to responding to incidents.
SA Police said no one was shot, and no police taser was deployed at the scene.
The media have compared the arrest to the George Floyd case in the US in 2020.
Floyd was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee and the weight of his body against the 46-year-old Black American man’s neck. (PTI)
