Police Officers Allegedly Assaulted by Intoxicated Group
Victoria Police has now arrested six people over an incident involving alleged assaults on two police officers over the weekend, in what police have described as a ‘sickening attack’.
CCTV footage of the incident appears to show the group attacking the police, at one point depicting a man repeatedly lifting and throwing one of the officers into the pavement.
The incident
The incident occurred on a St Kilda street, where two uniformed officers quickly became outnumbered and overpowered.
A nearby taxi driver captured the latter part of incident on camera, telling the media he feared the officer would be killed.
As police back-up arrives, the man seen manhandling one of the officers flees the scene, abandoning his friends who are sprayed and handcuffed.
Six people arrested have now been charged with various assault offences.
One of the officers had surgery to his arm, while the officer whose was smashed to the ground has been released from hospital after suffering cuts and bruises to his face.
More to the story
But while the mainstream media has adopted the above narrative, other reports suggest members of the group initially approached the officers because the officers were harassing a homeless man. Those reports say the group responded physically only after police employed heavy-handed tactics against them without sufficient reason.
Moreover, the start of a 53 second video – which commences several seconds before the arrival of the taxi driver and was not aired on mainstream media – shows one of the officers striking a female to the head with his baton and knocking her to the ground, causing the others to intervene.
Watch the video here:
It will be interesting to keep an eye on how the case pans out.
The tables turned
In recent times, it has been police officers caught on camera assaulting civilians.
And Victorian police have one of the worst reputations when it comes to using brutal force, having recently had to defend their actions over the assault of a disability pensioner caught on camera, the disgusting treatment of a woman being held in the Ballarat police station for drunkenness, hurling an Indigenous teenager at a fence before wrongfully arresting him, and fresh allegations made by a local Doctor who says she was assaulted while trying to help a man Police were in the process of arresting.
In 2017, a damning report into the Victorian Police Force described several instances of serious misconduct including assaults, harassment, stalking and predatory sexual misconduct. In one case, a senior constable restrained a child and led him away before punching him without provocation.
Other cases involved officers using police databases to assist them in stalking members of the public. In another case, an officer was found to have pursued drunk and vulnerable women with a view to procuring them to engage in sexual conduct.
But Victoria is not alone. In NSW in recent months police officers have been under fire for their forceful arrest of a 16-year old naked teenager. It is yet to be determined whether any of the officers involved will face charges.
And, in fact, Videos from all over Australia showing police officers committing horrendous acts of brutality are being uploaded to social media at an increasing rate.
It’s understood an internal police investigation is currently underway into the events in St Kilda over the weekend. While the video footage speaks for itself, there are still questions surrounding the assault and exactly how officers became involved in the situation that currently remain unanswered.
Police versus the community
However, what is becoming alarmingly clear, is that the current culture of Australian policing tends to favour the enforcement of law and order with an emphasis on ‘force’.
The divide between police and the community members they are employed to protect is widening. This has engendered a lack of respect on both sides, and in many cases, an element of ‘fear’.
As a result, violence seems to becoming the norm in clashes between police and members of the general public under most circumstances.
