Academic and author Chelsea Watego has launched an anti-discrimination case against the state of Queensland after she was arrested in Brisbane four years ago.
Two Queensland police officers, who cannot be named, arrested professor Watego outside of Brisbane’s ‘Beat’ nightclub in 2018.
Professor Watego said she was trying to organise an Uber within the ‘relative safety’ of the bar.
She said security staff dragged her from the bar and she was standing outside when the officers arrived.
“There was an aggressive white male who was behaving in a threatening manner,” she told The Point.
“In my appeals for them to attend to him, I found myself arrested without warrant within 18 seconds of their arrival, handcuffed and detained in custody.”
Professor Watego, who wrote the book ‘Another Day in the Colony’ said she felt obliged to take on the process.
“I decided to lodge the race discrimination case because I know this is all too familiar for blackfullas, I know as someone who works in the area of race and race discrimination,” she said.
“I felt obliged to act. If I want to call on blackfullas to fight racism, then I have to do that myself, irrespective of the cost.”
Professor Watego was arrested outside of Brisbane's The Beat nightclub in 2018. Source: Supplied
'Something needs to be done'
Professor Watego told the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) that her treatment by the officers was discriminatory on the basis of race.
Professor Watego’s legal team argued that her arrest was not warranted and was unlawful.
The offence she was arrested for - failure to leave a licensed venue - was not the offence the state proceeded with in court. Instead, Professor Watego pleaded guilty to a charge of public nuisance.
“If you look at the top five offences that Indigenous women in the state of Queensland are charged for public nuisance and charges relating to interactions with police are in the top five; three of the top five and something needs to be done about it,” she said.
Professor Watego was handcuffed and transported to the Brisbane watch house after the arrest.
She said she has suffered physically and mentally as a result of the incident, including bruising and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“I left the watch-house that morning, on my wedding anniversary, with bruises on my body,” she said.
“I don’t know that it was the physical pain that hurt so much but the psychological pain of not being able to count on anybody, even those whose job it is to protect me and uphold the law.”
“...It was that ultimate sense of powerlessness in not being afforded any protection, not even being able to appeal for my safety on that evening, whether it was security guards, to a stranger on the street, to police officers who arrived on the scene.”
The Queensland government's opening statement to the tribunal said the use of handcuffs was necessary 'for the safety of officers and others'.
Chelsea Watego says she wants her case to encourage others to take action if they feel they've experienced discrimination Source: NITV
They said Professor Watego was pointed out to police by ' multiple sober witnesses'.
The officers involved in the arrest said Professor Watego's behaviour at the time of arrest was 'agitated’, ‘antagonistic’ and ‘unpredictable'.
They said the use of the handcuffs on Professor Watego was warranted, deeming it the most 'reasonable minimal use of force to control the situation'.
The officers said they focused their attention to Professor Watego rather than the man Professor Watego was alerting them to because they had their 'hands full' dealing with her and didn't have the chance to turn their attention to anyone else.
In giving evidence to the tribunal the arresting officer said he was confident he had 'made the best decision’ in arresting Professor Watego in 2018.
The tribunal is expected to decide whether Professor Watego was racially discriminated against in three weeks' time.
Professor Watego said irrespective of the outcome she has no regrets taking the action, and wants her experience to inform others and give a face to the statistics of Aboriginal women who have had similar experiences to hers.
“There is a pattern of behaviour here,” she said.
“In the Queensland Government inquiry into police responses to family violence there has been an acknowledgement of the culture of racism, sexism and misogyny in the Queensland Police Service in attending to Aboriginal women who are victims of violence.
“It’s on the record yet here I sit in a case that looks at mine alone and is potentially unable to see that in its broader context.
“Yet we see it and we feel it and we know it every single day in this place.”
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