A relative of an Aboriginal man who drowned in north-west New South Wales after a police chase has told an inquest some of the evidence has been "disgusting" and "inhuman".
WARNING: This article contains images of an Aboriginal person who has died. They are used with the permission of the family.
Gordon Copeland, 22, ran from police after officers followed him and two others in a car in July last year.
Mr Copeland fell over an embankment and drowned in the flooding Gwydir River.
His cousin, Lesley Fernando, said the family would "never, ever get over" the past 12 months.
She told the coroner certain body camera footage shown to the inquest was "utterly disgusting".
"It's inhuman, the actions on that video, that we will now live with forever," she said.
"We will never unsee that, or unhear it."
'No concern for Gordon'
Ms Fernando said after the search was called off she and other family members spent hours in the police station pleading for it to recommence.
She told the coroner the family had received information Mr Copeland was that person and could still be in the water.
Ms Fernando said the most help she received from police at that point was in the form of a post-it note that detailed where he was last seen.
"That was the resources we were given to look for our loved one. That was the resources we were given," she told the coroner.
She said in the following weeks and months she was frustrated at what she called a lack of communication with authorities in town.
"If I could get a response from David Elliot, [then] Minister for Police and Emergency Services, on his private phone, but couldn't get a response from local services here in Moree — it just goes to show there was no concern for Gordon anymore.
"There was no urgency, there was nothing."
Ms Fernando said on the first day of proceedings, one of Mr Copeland's sons – Gordon Junior – was confused to see people wearing T-shirts with his dad's face printed on them.
"Little Gordon is sitting in the car, he puts up his little hands and he says: 'Where's my dad? Where's my dad?'" she told the court.
Ms Fernando finished her evidence to applause from the packed court gallery, which continued as she stepped outside for the morning break.
Proposals for change
In her closing submission, counsel assisting the coroner Peggy Dwyer told the inquest the decision for police to follow the car that night was not "worth it".
She said under the circumstances the risk for the passengers in the other car was too high and indicated she would recommend a change in police training on when to follow a car.
Bill Neild, the barrister for some of the family members, said he would submit a recommendation on behalf of the family called Gordon's Law.
He said the proposed law would govern how police followed, chased or pursued people near dangerous bodies of water.
The lawyer for several police officers, Anders Mykkeltvedt, submitted to the coroner that they all conceded the search should have lasted longer.
He said the first time they left the scene, they genuinely believed someone had escaped.
Imogen Hogan, the lawyer representing Mr Copeland's partner, Josephine Brown, told the inquest the police needed to do more for the community.
"Josephine can't lose Gordon Junior," Ms Hogan said.
"This family can't lose another Gordon Copeland."
This inquest hearing is expected to conclude tomorrow after the family's impact statement is delivered.
