Newly released police bodyccam footage shows two New South Wales Police officers attacking and pepper spraying a naked woman, Jodi Knott, during a psychotic episode in Emu Plains in January 2023. The officers, Senior Constable Nathan Black and Constable Timothy John Trautsch, were convicted and jailed last July . Ms. Knott died of cancer 18 months after the incident; her cousins now demand systemic reform in police responses to mental health crises.

A welfare check that spiraled into an 18-minute assault

According to the footage aired by ABC's Four Corners, the officers were dispatched for a welfare check on the 48-year-old woman, who was naked and crouching under a tree. Instead of de-escalation, the body-worn cameras captured Black and Trautsch stomping on Ms. Knott, pepper-spraying her face and genitals, and discussing the use of a baton to 'settle her down.' The assault lasted 18 minutes.

300 metres from the prison gate — and hours from a parole release

Ms. Knott had been released from Amber Laurel Correctional Centre earlier that day. She became disoriented while walking to the Emu Plains train station and ended up in a cul-de-sac just 300 metres from the prison, as the source reports. The proximity to the correctional centre raises questions about whether police were already primed for a confrontational response.

Two empty canisters and a call for a taser: the officers' recorded conversation

Bodycam audio reveals Black saying 'We need a taser' and 'God, pleasse,' while Trautsch is heard laughing. After both emptied their pepper-spray canisters, Black asked about a long baton in the car, and Trautsch replied 'Yeah, that'll settle her down .' The officers also discussed sending snippets of the footage to colleagues — behaviour that led to additional charges of publishing protected information.

The cousins' fight for release of the footage — and the reform they seek

Nichole Allen and Sharee Castagna, Ms. Knott's cousins, fought for the bodycam footage to be made public. They argue the brutality reflects what Ms. Castagna called 'a significant cultural issue' within NSW Police. Their goal is to mandate better training for officers responding to acute mental illness episodes, so that vulnerable individuals receive care rather than violence.

What remains unanswered: plain-clothes officers and the missing mental-health protocol

The source does not disclose whether the dispatcher knew Ms. Knott had schizophrenia or had been prescribed antipsychotic medication. Nor does it explain why plain-clothed officers — not specialist mental-health crisis teams — were sent to a naked, psychologically distressed woman. These gaps are central to the reform debate.