An independent investigation will be undertaken in relation to a ‘heavy-handed’ arrest at a popular tourist spot – as police say similar situations in the United States would end in a shooting.
Police officials have maintained a female officer accused of punching an 18-year-old woman in the head while trying to arrest her in Byron Bay, New South Wales was acting in self defence,
The ‘heavy handed’ altercation, which was captured on video by a passer-by, has been defended by Superintendent Wayne Starling, according to the Gold Coast Bulletin.
An independent investigation into the incident will be carried out by New South Wales’ Law Enforcement Conduct Division, the ABC reported.
Superintendent Starling said police had been assaulted more than 150 times in the past year.
‘[In] America, some of these incidents that have occurred lately, police would have shot the people involved,’ he said.
The investigation is also related to the arrest of a naked 16-year-old boy in January.
Footage of the second arrest shows two police officers struggling to walk a woman up a flight of stairs at Byron Bay’s Main Beach on Monday.
The 18-year-old suddenly drops to the ground as the female police officer allegedly hits her in the head with a closed fist.
Superintendent Starling said ‘the footage didn’t look the best for police at the time’.
The ‘heavy-handed’ arrest of an 18-year-old woman in Byron Bay on Monday has been defended by Superintendent Wayne Starling, who claims a female officer at the scene acted in self-defence
Police confirmed the woman was knocked unconscious but alleged she tried to bite a female officer.
About 20 women protested the arrests by marching through Byron Bay with signs.
‘It’s completely unacceptable behaviour by our police force,’ protestor Adaja Black said.
‘Police officers are obviously not trained in the psychological skills needed to approach people in that situation.’
Superintendent Starling said police have tried to defuse the situations without being physical.
‘Our police have used verbal communication skills, they’ve used capsicum spray on one occasion and that hasn’t worked.
‘On two occasions in the last two weeks they’ve used tasers to try to restrain people [and] they’ve ripped the barbs out of their chests and they still come at the police.
‘They come to work each day. Many of them have slings, many of them have broken bones, and several have black eyes at different times.
‘But when you dissect the footage by each frame of the broadcast, you’ll see that the police acted in self-defence,’ Superintendent Starling said.
Video footage of the altercation shows two police officers struggling to walk the woman up a set of stairs at the beach
‘The girl on the ground lost consciousness for a few seconds. Once she regained consciousness she struck out at police.
He claimed the teen spat at an ambulance officer as she was being escorted to hospital.
Superintendent Starling said he is worried an officer will be seriously injured because of Byron Bay’s escalating drug problem.
‘In the last 12 months we’ve had 171 police within the command assaulted, 44 police at Byron Bay and of those 44 police that were assaulted in Byron Bay each one of those was associated with drugs or alcohol.’
Video footage of the arrest shows the woman’s boyfriend lunging at the police officers before he is pepper sprayed by the officers.
The person who filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook claimed the woman was unconscious for at least 30 seconds.
The 18-year-old and her 21-year-old boyfriend have since been charged with affray and assaulting police.
They were given conditional bail to appear in Byron Bay Local Court on March 8.
A man who is believed to be the woman’s boyfriend is seen lunging at the police officers and screaming for them to get off her before he is pepper sprayed by the officers
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