Shocking video has captured the moment police entered a desperate mother’s home, arresting her son while her daughter laid dead just metres away.
Lena-Rose Campbell called triple-0 after discovering that her daughter Shanarra Bright Campbell had taken her own life in the family’s backyard on October 4, 2019, believing there was still hope to save the 23-year-old.
She expected an ambulance – but instead was met by five police officers.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this story contains images and voices of people who have died.
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Lena-Rose’s son Justin Goldsmith said, after tensioned boiled over, one officer told him to “shut the f*** up” shortly after arriving at the Alice Springs home, before pepper-spraying him.
When he went to the laundry to try and wash out his eyes, more officers arrived – and dragged him to the ground.
In two separate videos, five NT Police officers can be seen wrestling Justin in the laundry, near the living room, while Lena-Rose is screaming, “Don’t hurt my son”.
The second clip shows two paramedics, who arrived shortly after the police, attempting to resuscitate Shanarra while the officers drag, pick up and carry Justin out in handcuffs.
In the video, Justin can be heard screaming at the officers, “you’re breaking my arm … you’re breaking my f****** arm.”
Shanarra’s family said none of the officers rendered CPR to the 23-year-old, whose body was lying within metres of Justin’s arrest.
Lena-Rose said one officer even touched or stood on Shanarra’s body during the ordeal.
“They weren’t really there to help us or anything else,” Justin said.
“(Police were) booting me, stepping on my head and pulling my arms back.
“They were like, ‘Stop resisting arrest’, I said, ‘I‘m not resisting arrest, I just want to see my sister’.”
Following Justin’s arrest, he was charged with hindering police, assaulting police and resisting arrest.
However, he said that, when he went to court for the charges just over a month later, his name was not on the list and the charges had “magically disappeared”.
Almost four years later, Shanarra’s family said they were still traumatised by that day, and the events that followed their triple-0 call.
“The victim was on the ground who I rang for – it was for my daughter to be resuscitated,” Lena-Rose said.
Shanarra is one of six women whose deaths are being investigated in Dying Rose, a podcast by The Advertiser looking into how the police responded to their deaths.
Lena-Rose and Justin spent years pursuing legal avenues against NT Police and, last year, reached a settlement.
However, they said they were not satisfied by the terms.
NT Police said it would not be commenting on the matter.
Originally published as ‘Shut the f*** up’: Harrowing footage of man arrested after sister’s suicide