Elijah Doughty, a 14-year-old Indigenous Australian riding a motorbike, was involved in a fatal traffic collision with a ute on 29 August 2016, near Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.
The incident led to significant protests and increased racial tensions within Kalgoorlie, with accusations that the driver was not charged with or convicted of a more serious crime only because Doughty was Indigenous.
[5] Doughty's injuries included his skull being split and brain stem snapped, spinal cord severed, most of his ribs broken, pelvis fractured, and leg and ankle mangled.
Approximately 200 people, some armed with rocks and bottles, broke down the gates of the court and surrounded police, who used pepper spray and riot shields in response.
Darryl Doughty, Elijah's father, stated that the trouble started when court guards decided to lock the front door.
[3] Fifteen police officers were injured and over $40,000 of property damage occurred during the riot, which resulted in 30 people being charged with 55 offences.
[9] The driver was interviewed by police the same day as Doughty's death and said that he was "trying to catch up with a motorbike that I know, I think, is mine, and hoping that the rider would go into the bush and fall off".
[9] The prosecution argued that given the speed, conditions of the track, and the difference in power between the ute and the motorbike, the man's driving was criminally negligent.
Supporters of Doughty, watching the proceedings in Kalgoorlie by video link, protested the verdict, many of them wearing T-shirts with the Black Lives Matter slogan.
[14] Some protestors spread red ochre over the windows of the Supreme Court,[14] and one woman threw it onto the steps, screaming "This is the blood of Aboriginal people, don't wait for this to be your children's".
[15] Another protest took place in Melbourne on 28 July 2017 in which protestors marched to Flinders Street railway station, sat on the road, started a fire in a metal drum for the purpose of a smoking ceremony,[16] and blocked one of the city's busiest intersections.
Police stated that Darryl was seen "acting aggressively" towards a member of the public and allegedly assaulted a court officer causing minor injuries.
[citation needed] The man responsible for Doughty's death was granted parole after he had served about 19 months behind bars.