Moment Tennant Creek Mayor Jeffrey McLaughlin sits on top of child in ‘citizen’s arrest’ – as footage sparks outrage
Images of a now-suspended mayor sitting on top of an Aboriginal child in a shocking ‘citizen’s arrest’ have led to calls for legal action against him.
Jeffrey McLaughlin, mayor of Barkly Regional Council, in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, was filmed sitting on the back of a young boy after making a citizen’s arrest on August 21.
Mr McLaughlin said the child had tried to break into his home.
A 61-year-old man who was with Mr McLaughlin at the time allegedly threatened the boy and has been charged with assault.
“I’m going to sit here as long as it takes,” McLaughlin can be heard saying in the video.
Images of a now-suspended mayor sitting on top of a child in a shocking ‘citizen’s arrest’ have led to calls for legal action against him
‘One of you will be killed. I told you the other day. You’re really lucky to be with me. We don’t want to live like this anymore.’
Meanwhile you hear the other man say: ‘I would like to stomp on your head’.
He then lifts his leg as if he is going to kick the child who shouts ‘go away’.
“Keep your damn head down or I’ll stomp on it,” the man says.
‘If it were up to me, I wouldn’t call the police. You’re lucky I don’t hit you right in the head.’
The man then makes a fist with his hand before driving his boot into the child’s head.
A 61-year-old man has been charged with assault following the incident
After the images circulated, Mr McLaughlin defended his actions.
“The force I used to arrest the boy was completely reasonable under the circumstances,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I immediately called the NT Police and requested their presence at the scene. While the spontaneous comments and behavior of the other adult male in the footage could rightly be described as inappropriate, they are not mine and I did not encourage them.
“As soon as the police arrived I followed their directions and the NT Police took the boy into custody.
“My actions were neither illegal nor inconsistent with my position as Mayor of Barkly Regional Council. It is disappointing that these images have been released for self-evidently political purposes.
“I will not be resigning from my position as Mayor of Barkly Regional Council.”
The boy’s parents have since signed a letter sent to the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) by Barkly councilor Elliot McAdam.
The NAAJA provides legal services to Aboriginal people in the NT.
‘As someone in a high position he should do that [have] stopped this attack almost immediately, but he did not,” the letter reads ABC reported.
Mr McLaughlin (pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) has resisted calls to resign
“Any reasonable person wouldn’t have sat on my son’s back for long.
‘Mr McLaughlin didn’t try to stop [the other man] stomp on my son’s head.’
The mayor had previously told the publication that he knew the child’s family very well, had spoken to them and had “applied restorative justice.”
The parents have denied this.
Mr McLaughlin and all members of Barkly Regional Council were suspended in October over ‘budget management concerns‘.
It is believed that Mr McLaughlin’s suspension is not related to the citizen’s arrest.