Police officer slams indigenous teenager face-first onto pavement during arrest
An officer knocked a boy of Aboriginal descent face-first onto a brick pavement during an arrest in Sydney, footage has shown.
The policeman can be seen kicking the 17-year-old’s feet while holding his hands behind his back. Losing his balance, the boy then falls to the floor.
“What the f***,” someone shouted from behind the camera. “You just slammed him on his face.”
The boy is then seen being handcuffed while lying face down on the pavement.
“He’s in pain,” someone can be heard saying.
New South Wales Police said an independent investigation has been launched into the incident and the officer involved “placed on restricted duties while the review is carried out”.
“Senior officers have met with the community and local elders and will keep them appraised throughout the process,” a police spokesperson said.
In the exchange leading up to the arrest, the officer says: “You need to open up your ears”.
“I heard you from over here,” someone replies. “I don’t need to open up my ears.”
Then a voice off-camera says: “I’ll crack your f***** jaw bro.”
The officer then moves towards one of the boys and arrests him.
Speaking about the incident, Mick Willing, the assistant commander of New South Wales, said officers had an exchange with a teenager, who was with four other males at the time.
“During the course of that dialogue, an officer approached the 17-year-old old male and effected the arrest of the male by using a leg sweep, placing him onto the ground.”
Mr Willing said the boy was taken to the police station in Surrey Hills, and his mother arrived shortly after.
“That male was conveyed to the Surrey Hills police station where his mother attended a short time later,” the assistant commander said in a press conference, as seen in local media.
“The male complained of soreness to the face and the knee and was conveyed to St Vincent’s hospital where he was provided with treatment and later released.”
The video emerged while protests are taking place in the US – and which have spread globally - after the death of George Floyd, a black American who died after a policeman knelt on his neck for minutes.
“We are aware of incidents that have taken place in the United States and other parts of the world,” Mr Willing said. ”And we’re very aware of the sensitivities of what is occurring overseas.”
Mr Willing said he was “concerned” about what he has seen in the footage, adding: “I am equally concerned about others who may use this footage and inflame it and turn it into something it is not.”
Thousands of protesters marched through downtown Sydney on Tuesday, voicing their solidarity with Americans demonstrating against the death of Floyd.
The demonstrators in Australia's largest city chanted, "I can't breathe" — some of the final words of both Floyd and David Dungay, a 26-year-old Aboriginal man who died in a Sydney prison in 2015 while being restrained by five guards.
Read more
Pepper spray sales soar on Amazon amid protests
Police officer shot during Las Vegas protests
Trevor Noah says it seems like police ‘can kill, so they do’
