NSW Police Commissioners Says The Officer Who Violently Arrested Indigenous Teen “Had A Bad Day”
"I had a bad day yesterday as well. I think I’ll use my power and go slam a 17 year old kids face into the ground"
NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has been slammed for trying to defend an officer who was filmed violently arresting an Aboriginal teenager, saying the officer “had a bad day”.
The Commissioner appeared on 2GB radio this morning where he tried to justify the constable’s decision to sweep the legs out from underneath a teenage boy, who was standing quietly with his hands behind his back.
“Not for one minute am I saying the officer’s actions were correct,” the Commissioner said.
“The fact that this officer doesn’t have a chequered history and he has been in [the police force] for three and a half years, if the complaint is sustained against him, you would have to say he has had a bad day.”
Not acceptable. Not acceptable. Not acceptable. Not acceptable. Not acceptable.
— Vicki Kyriakakis (@VickiKyriakakis) June 2, 2020
I had a bad day yesterday as well 😔😭 I think I’ll use my power and go slam a 17 year old kids face into the ground
— Mark (@MarkM41831) June 2, 2020
The response from Police Minister David Elliott has also outraged people.
“I was just as disturbed about the threat from a young person to physically assault a police officer as I was with the response from the police officer,” he said, as reported by The Guardian.
“We do need to remind our young people that there are levels of authority there that really command respect and that we need to ensure that all those institutions that are in positions of authority.”
An interesting week to say this- “We do need to remind our young people that there are levels of authority there that really command respect and that we need to ensure that all those institutions that are in positions of authority”
— Matilda Boseley (@MatildaBoseley) June 2, 2020
damn, words really do be as powerful as the act of slamming my head face-first into the concrete, bruising my chin and requiring x-rays
— Patrick Lum (@jintor_au) June 2, 2020
The teenager had to be taken to hospital after the arrest on Monday, and was later released without charge. The incident is now the subject of a police investigation.
It comes as protestors in Australia organise their own protest marches in solidarity with the US Black Lives Matter movement.