The inquest into the drowning death of Gomeroi man Gordon Copeland has been shown footage in which an officer is heard saying “fuck this little cunt” and laughing during the initial search of a New South Wales river.
Copeland, a 22-year-old father of three, drowned in the Gwydir river in Moree in the early hours of 10 July 2021.
The NSW coroner is examining the death and counsel assisting, Penny Dwyer, has told the inquest Copeland went into the water after police followed the vehicle in which he was a passenger, mistakenly thinking it was stolen.
On Thursday the inquest was shown vision from the body camera of Constable Nick Murray filmed shortly after Copeland allegedly ran into the river.
The footage shows police officers walking through thick grassy scrub near the river bank at 2.34am while searching for Copeland.
Murray witnessed Copeland running away from them towards the steep embankment with a drop of about “eight metres”, the inquest heard.
Dwyer asked Murray if he could “sense” the Copeland family’s reaction in the courtroom after watching the vision showing him swearing and laughing.
“My reactions and what I said was wrong and if I knew this [Copeland’s death] would have been the outcome I definitely would have been more sincere and wouldn’t have said those sorts of things,” Murray told the inquest.
Murray said he has “no malice” towards anyone, saying it was a difficult situation and this was his way of “coping” with a difficult situation.
“It was a bad situation for anyone and I was trying the best I could at the time. I was just a bit frustrated,” Murray told Dwyer when she asked about his demeanour in the vision.
Dwyer asked Murray if any of his comments were prompted because Copeland was Aboriginal.
“I’m not a racist person, I don’t mean any disrespect to anyone, it was nothing to do with colour … I have no bad thoughts towards Aboriginal people,” he said
The court heard Murray was a probationary officer at the time with just over four months of experience.
In the video Murray can be heard saying Gordon seemed “very young”.
“Fuck me, he’s only young too, and all his clothes on too, I’m surprised. He’s gonna fucking drown,” Murray is heard saying in the video.
“He’s either swam across or went down in the current, but it’s a pretty strong current, so.”
Murray told the inquest he held concerns for Copeland’s safety due to the dangerous water conditions and fast-flowing current.
The officers first on the scene told the court they had walked “probably 30-40 metres” and didn’t see anyone and believed Copeland was no longer in the river. Evidence heard this week found police officers on the scene had conducted an initial search of about 13 minutes.
Murray said he later returned to the scene to collect evidence after a conversation with the senior officer at the station, at which time he and another officer heard “murmuring” near the river.
Body camera vision of the second search was not recorded. Murray told the court that as the officers collected evidence they thought it wasn’t necessary.
Murray said he heard groaning sounding like the person was in “pain” and the police officers ran towards the sounds.
Murray told the court he called out to Copeland, saying “are you all right? We’re here to help” before calling back to the station to say they had seen someone in the river.
In a statement collected the day after the incident, the officers said they were calling out for about 10 minutes before seeing “a head bobbing in the river”’, the court heard.
Murray said he shone his torch light on Copeland while calling out to him. Another officer went further downstream saying they were “concerned for Copeland’s welfare”.
“He had been in the water a good long time. I was very concerned, it was cold, possibly injured, a lot of concern,” Murray told the inquest.
He said this exchange was over in about “15 seconds” as he called out to him with no response.
The constable told Dwyer that he considered entering the water but thought it was too dangerous as he had been trained to be wary of entering flood waters, strong currents and rips.
He said Copeland was then swept away downstream, disappearing behind a bend in the river.
About five minutes after that emergency crews and other police arrived, Murray told the inquest he walked about 1.6km along the river bank calling out and said he was at the site for about two hours.
Police called off the search after three days, but Copeland’s family and friends continued searching for months.
After sustained community pressure, authorities reopened the search in October 2021 and found his body after three days, less than 500m from where he entered the water.
The inquest continues.
