Eathan Cruse awarded $400,000 after was brutally bashed by police during a terror raid in Melbourne

An innocent man who was brutally bashed by police during a terror raid has been awarded $400,000. 

Eathan Cruse was 19 when he says he was tethered with cable ties, slammed into a fridge and beaten with ‘hammer strikes’ by police at his parents’ south east Melbourne home in April 2015. 

Mr Cruse was arrested on suspicion of involvement with a plot to behead a police officer on Anzac Day the same year, but was never charged.

Mr Cruse says he now suffers chronic adjustment disorder with an anxious and depressed mood, along with post-traumatic stress disorder (pictured some of Mr Cruse’s injuries)

He successfully sued the state of Victoria over the ‘beating’, which he says he received while lying face down, with his hands tied behind his back.

Mr Cruse says he now suffers chronic adjustment disorders, with depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

But police say Mr Cruse was not handcuffed while he was being struck and the action was a reasonable attempt to subdue him. 

Justice Melinda Richards on Tuesday found the arrest was unlawful and the officers didn’t suspect Mr Cruse of committing a terrorism offence.

‘On the evidence before me, Mr Cruse became a person of interest because he was a friend of Numan Haider and is Muslim,’ she told the court.  

Police were monitoring the teen after he came to the attention of security agency ASIO because of his friendship with terrorist Numan Haider and IS fighter Irfaan Hussein.

Haider was fatally shot by police after he stabbed two officers at Endeavour Hills in 2014, while Hussein was killed in 2015 while fighting in Syria.

Mr Cruse’s friend Sevdet Besim was later imprisoned over the foiled beheading plot.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting in any way that Mr Cruse was involved in the plot.

‘On the evidence before me, Mr Cruse became a person of interest because he was a friend of Numan Haider and is Muslim,’ Justice Melinda Richards told the court 

Mr Cruse was awarded $400,000, including aggravated damages of $80,000 and exemplary damages of $100,000. He was awarded a further $200,000 for pain and suffering

The court heard Mr Cruse was handcuffed in the hallway before he was assaulted by being struck in the head and upper body by police. He was also slammed into a fridge. 

Operator 27 denied that happened and said Mr Cruse instead slipped on his blood and was ‘lightly pushed into the fridge’. 

The officer also denied threatening Mr Cruse by telling him that ‘there’s more to come’ and twisting his wrist saying, ‘don’t say a f**king word’. 

Justice Richards said the evidence was in favour of Mr Cruse who had medical and photographic evidence which were consistent with his version of events.  

‘I am acutely conscious that it is a serious matter to find that police officers beat a man who was restrained and defenceless, and that my findings may have adverse consequences for Operator 27 and the other officers involved,’ she said. 

She refuted Operator 27 explanation of how the blood got on the fridge calling it ‘implausible’.  

Mr Cruse was awarded $400,000, including aggravated damages of $80,000 and exemplary damages of $100,000. He was awarded a further $200,000 for pain and suffering.