Family Alleges Racial Profiling After Police Pull Aboriginal Teen from Bus at Gunpoint

The family of a 17-year-old Aboriginal boy is accusing police of racial profiling after officers drew their guns and forcibly removed him from a bus in Canberra, only to later realize they had the wrong person.

The teenager, traveling alone to visit family, was on the bus when police cars stopped it. Officers entered the bus with guns drawn and arrested the young boy, who was handcuffed and placed face down on the ground. According to the family, the police did not ask for the boy's identification or his name before acting. They only compared a photo on their phones and then realized their mistake. The boy was released, the handcuffs were removed, and an apology was offered.

The family, however, described the incident as a violation of the boy’s human rights. "What happened was not a mistake. It was a gross violation of a child's human rights," they stated, emphasizing the trauma caused by the officers’ actions. They added that the teenager, now too scared to leave the house or take the bus, would be haunted by this experience.

Gathering outside the Legislative Assembly, the family demanded accountability and immediate change to prevent similar incidents from occurring. They asked for access to the body-worn camera footage and trauma counseling for the boy. They also called for the officers involved to be stood down pending investigation.

ACT Policing Chief Officer Scott Lee expressed an apology for the misidentification and the trauma caused but stood by the officers’ actions, explaining that they were responding to reports of serious crimes in the area. He stated that the arrest was based on a physical description matching the alleged suspect.

However, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community leaders condemned the incident, calling it "outrageous" and "a breach of safety and trust." ACT Aboriginal representative Kaylene McLeod said, "A gun pointed at the Aboriginal boy on a bus is not a mistake — it is a catastrophic failure of judgment, process, and humanity."