Victorian police goons kill man

Several Victorian police are likely to face criminal charges over the treatment and subsequent death of a man after he was released from Dandenong police station this year. The 53-year-old Chinese man died at Dandenong Hospital about 11.40am on May 13, some 15 hours after being discharged from the police station.

The Age understands homicide squad investigators have seized video footage from outside the station that shows about five police dumping the visibly ill man in a puddle upon his release while the temperature was about 12 degrees and raining.

It shows the officers standing over the man laughing and gloating about the state he was in and some policewomen can also be seen holding their noses because of the stench caused by the man soiling himself while in custody.

One of the officers is believed to have brought a police divvy van from the back of the station so she could sit inside with the heater on and continue watching the man lying on the ground. He died of what is believed to have been hypothermia.

His death was made public two weeks later by an interpreter who had been called to the station after the man was locked up for drunkenness about 3.20pm. She said when she arrived about 7.45pm and looked into his cell, he had soiled himself and she saw "blood everywhere". She said he had begged police to take him to hospital or get medical help, but they repeatedly ignored him.

The interpreter, known only as Jay Jay, said police told her "he was dying anyway".

Police have confirmed they have CCTV footage from inside the station that shows the man crawling from his cell bleeding and in agony. When paramedics arrived about 9pm, they found the man conscious, bleeding and breathing rapidly.

Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius said at the time there was no evidence the man had suffered any physical trauma due to mishandling or use of force by police. He added that it appeared the man had died because of "a long-standing and pre-existing medical condition", believed to be cirrhosis.

Mr Cornelius said the officer "ultimately accountable" for custody at Dandenong station had been switched to other duties, and further disciplinary action would be decided by the head of the Ethical Standards Department, who is overseeing the investigation, pending the outcome of the investigation.

The Age has been told that criminal charges are being considered for those involved, with manslaughter yet to be ruled out. Some police could also be sacked for their involvement.

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