Police tried to pull back man jumping between 13th-storey balconies before he fell to his death, Queensland coroner hears

Apr 10, 2024

Police attempted to pull at the clothes of a man leaping between balconies before he fell from the 13th storey of an apartment building, according to submissions to a coroner’s inquest.

Mario Giovanni Merlo, 42, died on 18 August 2021 after falling 40m from the balcony of his one-bedroom flat in Ipswich during an 8am raid by Queensland police.

Merlo jumped up over the balustrade and balcony railing and “appeared to be moving towards the apartment next door” when he was intercepted by a senior constable, the coroner’s court heard.

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Officers from taskforce Maxima seized a firearm during the raid, and discovered drugs in a satchel he was wearing when he fell.

The coroner’s court of Queensland heard that his medical records suggested he would suffer from paranoia and delusional behaviour as a result of substance abuse, and that he had been treated under an involuntary treatment order for psychosis in 2011.