A video showing an 11-year-old boy questioned by police after witnessing the death of his mother and brother has been released to the public.
Mother Donna Rice was trapped in Queensland flash floods with her sons Blake and Jordan in the car, in 2011.
Blake's father, John Tyson, believes the 50-minute video was deliberately misconstrued by police to take the heat off one of their own officers who told off Ms Rice for driving into the flood waters.
Officer Constable Wheeler gave Ms Rice's call the lowest categorisation, meaning help didn't arrive until other calls to emergency came in from bystanders 20 minutes later.
During the phone call, Constable Wheeler asked, "Why'd you drive through flooded waters?"
"Because it wasn't flooded when we were coming across," Ms Rice answered.
The officer then asked, "So you're saying in the space of one second all the water came up?"
When help arrived, Jordan told rescuers to take Blake first. Jordan and his mother then drowned.
Five years after his death, Jordan has been honour with an award for his bravery.
Mr Tyson believes the police interview, which took place two weeks after the tragedy, was an attempt to deflect blame from Constable Wheeler.
In the video, Blake tells the officer the water "wasn't deep".
Constable Wheeler repeats Blake's statement back to him with one key difference - he describes the water as "really deep."
"So you said you were driving along the big street there and then the water started to get really deep and Jordan told your mum to keep driving. Was that his exact words?"
"Yeah", Blake answers. "He just said 'Keep driving. It's not that deep.'"
Constable Wheeler was disciplined but was not suspended from his job.
Newshub.
