Pictured: Ray Hadley on air in 2018
Radio host Ray Hadley has defended the white police officer who was filmed sweeping an Aboriginal teen from his feet during an arrest in Sydney.
The 2GB star, whose son was a senior constable before resigning in September last year, on Wednesday said the cop involved had his ‘full support’.
His statement came moments before NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller apologised for the policeman’s actions.
In footage exclusively released by Daily Mail Australia, the teenager told an officer he would ‘crack you in the f**king jaw, bro’, following a verbal altercation at Eddie Ward Park in Surry Hills about 5pm on Monday.
In response, the officer handcuffed him and kicked his legs from underneath him at the same time, sending the boy tumbling face first into the footpath below.
A spokesman for New South Wales Police later confirmed the officer had been suspended from frontline duties pending an investigation by the Professional Standards Command.
Hadley said the officer should not lose his job over the incident.
‘In this particular case, the copper has my full support,’ he said on air.
‘Police don’t get any respect. ‘It’s not about indigenous people, or white people, or people from any other ethnic background, it’s about a lack of respect for the authority of police.’
Following his arrest, the family claim he was taken to holding cells before being transferred to St Vincent’s Hospital via ambulance, where he spent the night waiting for results from x-rays to his shoulder, knee and elbow.
His statement came after NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller admitted there were ‘other ways’ the officer could have dealt with the matter, other than the leg sweep.
He said the officer in question had worked in the force for three-and-a-half years and had no record of complaints, and likely regretted the way he arrested the teen.
‘This is a case of two things – is it reasonable for someone to swear and threaten a police officer? And then, is the force the officer used reasonable?’ Mr Fuller told 2GB Radio.
‘I don’t know what happened before in terms of the lead-up but there was probably other ways the officer could have dealt with that matter, no doubt.
‘I totally accept that officers need to show restraint.’
Mr Fuller said officers are trained to use leg sweeps as a method to detain somebody, but said the video was still concerning.
A 16-year-old boy suffered a chipped tooth and bruising all over his body after he was thrown to the ground by a police officer
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller (pictured) on Wednesday admitted there were ‘other ways’ the officer could have dealt with the matter, other than the leg sweep
Footage shows the officer, who was patrolling in Surry Hills in Sydney at the time, swipe the feet from underneath the man during the arrest (left). While on the floor, the young man appeared to struggle to manoeuvre his arms behind his back and was wailing (right)
Regardless, he doubted the community would want the junior constable to lose his job.
‘I’m sure most of the community wouldn’t want to see someone who’s made a mistake sacked after making such a commitment to the community.’
Hadley said Mr Fuller made a mistake in apologising for the matter.
‘If the Police Commissioner in NSW has to apologise, well Mick you need to have a rethink, the PC brigade have got a hold of you,’ he said.
Ali Mongta-Finn, the 17-year-old’s sister, told Triple J Hack her brother shouldn’t have been mistreated for being ‘lippy’.
She said her brother was distraught afterwards and his teeth were chipped during the ordeal.
‘When he came back home later that night, he was shaken up,’ she said on Triple J Hack.
‘He was very sore this morning and he was distraught.
‘Teenagers, they’re lippy, but you don’t just abuse children because they’re lippy.’
‘He has a bruised shoulder, cuts and grazing to his knee, face and elbow and chipped teeth,’ a relative said