Inquest into 2023 death shown footage of John Makai struggling to stand after suffering serious head injury from being punched in head by son.
Victorian police have apologised to the family of a man who died after being held for five hours in a police cell without medical treatment for a head injury.
John Makai, a 58-year-old father of 10, died in 2023 from serious head trauma that went untreated despite him being unresponsive in a Broadmeadows cell, the Victorian coroner’s court heard on Monday.
On the first day of an inquest into his death, footage was shown in court of Makai being dragged from a divisional van into police cells, and repeatedly failing to respond when officers checked on him through the cell door.
After the footage was shown, a lawyer for Victoria police’s chief commissioner, Mike Bush, said he apologised for the death.
Imrie said there was a failure to complete a medical checklist when Makai arrived at the Broadmeadows station.
When they arrived at the Broadmeadows police station about 20 minutes later, Makai could no longer stand, and had to be dragged out of the van by his legs, with his head seen striking the floor and walls of the van.
The first witness, Ryan Goon, the director of operations support for Triple Zero Victoria, said that the dispatcher wrongly cancelled the police request for an ambulance.
Ellyard said the scope of the inquest would consider the cause and the circumstances surrounding Makai’s death, including what treatment he could have received if he was taken to hospital rather than to a police station.