Queensland police officers could have saved the life of 19-year-old Charlie Robertson if they had called an ambulance, the Coroners Court of Queensland has heard this week.
“They left our boy to die,” Charlie’s father, Graham Robertson, told Nine News outside the court on Friday. “They simply walked away from him and left him to die.”
Seven officers stormed Robertson’s Gold Coast apartment, warrant in hand, on March 13, 2015, in search of drugs. At the time of entry, police found six people inside the apartment, plus Roberston passed out in his room, lying in the recovery position and snoring loudly. Within seconds, three people had jumped the balcony and fled the scene.
Police body cam footage recovered from the raid shows one officer standing in the doorway of the award-winning university student’s bedroom laughing, while another is seen shaking him out of the recovery position and moments later laying him down on his back.
A number of officers told the court they also tried shaking Robertson, rubbing his sternum and pouring water on his face, but nothing could rouse him.
What they say they didn’t realise, however, was that Robertson was slowly dying from an accidental overdose of GHB and cocaine.
