Video of disabled Indigenous man being violently arrested at Taree NSW leads to police investigation
Video of disabled Indigenous man being violently arrested in Taree NSW leads to police investigation
The violent arrest of an 18-year-old Indigenous man with a disability, in which he was thrown to the ground while having a seizure, has prompted an internal police investigation.
New South Wales Police responded to reports that a man allegedly attempted to break into two homes in Wyoming Close, Taree, just after 4pm on Tuesday.
The alleged perpetrator fled on foot before being located a short time later at a property on Gwenneth Avenue, where footage shows the young man stumbling up a driveway before falling to the ground and beginning to have a seizure.
In a video circulated on social media, the officer can be seen pulling him up and pushing him across the path before the teen collapses again and is then handcuffed.
A second video shows the same officer escorting the young man several steps along the road before brutally knocking his legs out from under him in a violent leg-sweeping maneuver.
“There were other ways they could have handled him,” the teen’s aunt said.
“He wasn’t resisting arrest or anything.”
“They nearly broke this little boy’s arm. This little guy was having seizures and they weren’t even so polite as to call an ambulance,” she shared The protector.
His aunt claimed that he had his head beaten and slashed during the arrest.
The 18-year-old lives with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and has been on a disability pension since he was 16, she added.
An internal investigation is underway by NSW Police into the violent arrest of an 18-year-old disabled Indigenous man who was knocked off his feet during a leg-sweeping maneuver (pictured)
Police responded to reports of a man attempting to break into two properties in Wyoming Close, Taree, just after 4 p.m. before the young man was located a short time later on Gwenneth Avenue (pictured)
He was charged with possession of allegedly stolen property and was released on bail after appearing in Taree’s local court on Wednesday.
“I thought I was going to die in jail last night,” the teenager told his aunt from prison on Thursday.
“I couldn’t move.”
A NSW police spokesman said an internal investigation into the arrest is ongoing.
“The investigation, conducted by the Manning-Great Lakes Police District, will investigate the response and arrest by a police officer,” the statement said.
No comment was made on whether the teen was offered medical attention.
The young man must appear in court again on September 18.