SAPOL launches internal review after routine call-out ends in 15-year-old boy being pepper-sprayed

SA Police has launched a review after a call-out on Friday ended with a well-known Rostrevor shop owner and his son being pepper-sprayed – and we’ve got the video.

A fruit and veg shop owner claims SA Police “wrongfully accused” him of indecently exposing himself on a busy road before officers pepper-sprayed him and his 15-year-old son.

Footage has emerged of the arrest on Friday afternoon that has sparked an internal police review.

The footage shows St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris and his son in a heated discussion with police before a male officer pushes Mr Kapiris.

His son then moves towards the officer before the pepper-spraying and Mr Kapiris’s arrest.

Police were called to Magill Rd after reports of inappropriate behaviour.

But Mr Kapiris said it was a complete mix-up and he was staging photos out the front of his St Bernards Rd shop for one of his notorious “dropped-pants specials” in which he kept his underwear on.

“I always get my (long) pants off,” he said.

“I walk around the shop for half an hour and the customers go mental – they love it.”

Mr Kapiris alleged that police arrived and asked him for his personal details but would not tell him why, and when he resisted, things turned ugly.

“It just escalated from there ... within 40 seconds me and my son were pepper-sprayed,” Mr Kapiris said.

“I’m a heavy athsmatic and I thought I was gone.”

Mr Kapiris and his wife Leannda said their son was in so much pain that he had to sit in the shower for two hours.

“I’ve never seen him in so much pain,” Mrs Kapiris said.

A still from footage showing St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris and his 15-year-old son being allegedly pepper sprayed by police. Picture: Facebook

A still from footage showing St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market owner John Kapiris and his 15-year-old son being allegedly pepper sprayed by police. Picture: Facebook

The footage was posted to the St Bernards Fruit and Veg Market Facebook page with the caption: “U fn assholes wrongly arresting myself and pepper-spraying me and my son that’s 15 years old, I’m suing the fkn ass off you pricks watch this space”.

Mr Kapiris has recently posted videos publicly stating he intended to vandalise Aldi supermarket advertisements but said Friday’s incident was unrelated to his severe dislike of the grocery giant, which has stores near his business.

In a statement on Saturday, SA Police said it had launched an internal review after capsicum spray was used on an “unco-operative” man, 45, during a routine call-out on Friday.

Police said footage from officers’ body-worn cameras, as well as other footage that has been posted online, was being considered.

The statement, which did not name Mr Kapiris, said officers saw a man in his underwear and approached to question him about his behaviour.

The man was arrested and charged with disorderly behaviour and hindering police.

He was granted bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court on May 6.

A 29-year-old man died on the NSW Central Coast in December after being pepper sprayedand tasered by police following a call out to a reported domestic dispute. An internal review was launched into the circumstances surrounding that man’s death.