On 7 October, 2021, Steven Lee Nixon-McKeller was killed at the hands of two Queensland Police Service (QPS) officers in Toowoomba.
Stevie Lee was just twenty-seven years old. He died after he was held in a chokehold by QPS police officers. Moments before his death, another QPS officer can be heard saying, "choke this c**t out, choke him out".
Now Stevie Lee's mother, Dr Raylene Nixon, is spearheading a campaign to ban chokeholds in Queensland.
The police chokehold - also known as the Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint hold, LVNR or sleeper hold - involves compressing the arteries and veins in the neck to decrease blood supply to the brain.
Queensland is currently the only state in Australia to allow the controversial chokehold.
'Campaign born from rage, grief, loss and love and a refusal to accept there are no consequences for the death of my son'
Dr Raylene Nixon is a Gunggari woman, her identity is shaped by generations of strength, resistance, humility and care, and by a deep commitment to justice. She is also a Senior Lecturer at the Carumba Institute at the Queensland University of Technology and was recently awarded an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award. Her expertise lies in public health and social justice. Despite the racism and injustice she has faced before the Coroner's Court of Queensland, she is resilient, focused and determined.
"This campaign was born from rage, grief, loss and love and a refusal to accept that there are no consequences for the death of my son, no responsibility, no accountability," Dr Nixon said.
"It's not about nastiness or hate. I'm a mother who lost her son from a dangerous police use of force that has been discontinued in every other state in Australia and most countries around the world following the death of George Floyd. I suppose this is a refusal to let his death be reduced to a statistic or a footnote."
The campaign saw some early success. On 14 April 2023, then QPS Commissioner Katarina Caroll removed the chokehold as a use of force option for the Queensland Police Service. A direction to cease using the technique was put in place. References to the chokehold were removed from the police manual.
"Though it was too late for Steven, we took some comfort in knowing he would be the last to lose his life from the chokehold," Dr Nixon reflected.
Queensland government ignored expert advice
But just one month later, Commissioner Caroll reneged, stating pressure from the Queensland Police Union, who challenged the ban, arguing it prevented officers from defending themselves. The LVNR is currently allowed in 'dangerous situations'.
Dr Nixon continued to lobby Commissioner Caroll, but her requests for a meeting were repeatedly denied.
Her letters to the Commissioner and to key government representatives cite extensive research on the high-risk of death associated with police chokeholds.
"The high risk of death associated with chokeholds is well documented in academic and policy literature in neuroscience, physiological science, medicine and criminology," Dr Nixon explained.
"A study by Dunn and others found that the chokehold can result in 'asphyxia and rapid neuronal death'. The American Academy of Neurology called for an end to police use of chokeholds in 2021."
Dr Nixon's correspondence also emphasises, in addition to the well-documented evidence base of chokeholds and the risks associated with death for all Australians, the unacceptable risk the chokehold poses to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Peoples.
Racism a significant factor
The police are more likely to use chokeholds on racialised minorities, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, due to police practices of targeting, harassment, intimidation, discrimination and hyper-surveillance.
Former federal prosecutor Paul Butler's book, Chokehold: Policing Black Men contains a book-length examination of police disproportionate use of chokeholds against Black men in the United States.
In Australia, police practices of targeting and discrimination has been acknowledged in countless royal commissions, state inquiries and coronial inquests into First Peoples deaths in custody.
Former National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services Co-Chair Priscilla Atkins has said: "This is a rolling effect. We need to do something, and we need to do something now."
At least five chokehold deaths in custody in Queensland in recent history
Dr Nixon's correspondence was co-signed by legal and health experts, community legal centres and esteemed individuals who all supported the Commissioner's original decision to remove this dangerous tactic from the police training manual.
To Dr Nixon's knowledge, there have been at least five deaths involving the chokehold in Queensland. These five victims were Stevie Lee Nixon-McKellar, Noombah, Christopher Martin, Carl Grillo and Michael Eddy.
In February 2018, an Indigenous man known culturally as Noombah was killed by QPS officers after being held in a chokehold in Townsville.
In September 2015, Christopher Martin was wrestled by police inside his home. A QPS officer applied the chokehold and he died 30 minutes later.
Carl Grillo was killed after a QPS officer applied the chokehold three times and also delivered several "hammer fist" blows to his head.
Michael Eddy was killed by QPS officers after a protracted struggle with three officers who admitted to punching and kicking Eddy and repeatedly attempting to apply the chokehold.
There have also been serious injuries. Sam Hogan has been in a coma since QPS officers held him in a chokehold at Clifton Beach in 2004. The victim's family has been unable to speak out due to legal reasons, believed to be a non-disclosure agreement.
The chokehold was found to have caused or contributed to the deaths and serious injury in each of these six cases.
Queensland the lone Australian jurisdiction to allow police chokeholds
Police chokeholds came under scrutiny in 2020, following the death of African American father-of-one George Floyd. The death of George Floyd prompted jurisdictions around the globe to ban the chokehold. These jurisdictions include Minneapolis, France, Britain, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Chicago, Denver, San Diego, Phoenix, Colorado, Washington, California, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Utah, Virginia, Massachusetts, Vermont, among many others.
The chokehold has been completely banned even in fully Republican-controlled states such as Indiana, Iowa and Utah.
Other liberal democracies had banned the chokeholds decades earlier, for example in Aotearoa/New Zealand since 1990, Tennessee since 2016, and Illinois since 2015.
Some of these jurisdictions ban police chokeholds with criminal sanctions. For example, in the state of Vermont, officers can face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to US$50,000.
All Australian states and territories besides Queensland have banned the use of chokeholds. Victoria, NSW and Qld are all categorical in stating they do not teach or advocate the use of any form of chokehold or respiratory neck restraint.
In the UK, the College of Policing says prone suspects should be placed on their side in a sitting, kneeling or standing position "as soon as practicable". Guidance on the website of London's police force discourages the use of chokeholds, stating "any form of pressure to the neck area can be highly dangerous".
Colonel Laurent de Joux, head of training at Gendarmes of France, states that French police are no longer taught to apply pressure to the neck. In his words, "You don't need to be a doctor to understand that it's dangerous".
'The chokehold has no place in Australian policing'
It is time for Queensland to ban chokeholds entirely and not be bullied by QPU (Queensland Police Union) and their ridiculous plea that the technique is needed to keep officers safe. There is enough evidence to indicate the technique is not safe. The chokehold has no place in Australian policing.
A petition calling on the coroner to release the footage of Stevie-Lee's death can be signed online.
More information about Stevie-Lee's story is online, and the campaign #Justice4StevieLee can also be followed on social media.
