SA police try to settle on dealer ‘bashing’, taxpayers to foot secret bill

A drug dealer’s $500,000 claim for “forceful arrest” is set to settle out of court – and confidentially.

A $500,000 lawsuit over a “forceful” SA Police arrest, captured on CCTV, is poised to settle out of court – meaning taxpayers will fund a drug dealer’s confidential payout.

Rhys Johns’ case against police and the SA government was due to be heard in the District Court on Tuesday – that hearing, however, did not go ahead.

The Advertiser understands the government has offered a settlement – the terms of which are confidential – to Johns following a recent, court-ordered mediation hearing.

That represents a second change of position for police, who initially denied any wrongdoing over an incident during which Johns was allegedly struck 19 times and his dog was OC-sprayed.

Rhys Johns’ case against police and the SA government was due to be heard in the District Court on Tuesday – that hearing, however, did not go ahead. Picture: Facebook

They subsequently admitted an assault had taken place, but insisted the altercation – captured by Johns’ CCTV system – was due to the convicted drug trafficker “resisting arrest”.

If accepted by Johns, the settlement offer will end the proceedings and the money he receives will be sourced from taxpayer funds.

Johns, 32, is serving a 5 ½-year prison term, having pleaded guilty to drug trafficking.

He was caught with 27g methamphetamine in the shed of his Parafield Gardens home in 2021 – while already on home detention bail.

Johns, who had won $15,000 by gambling online and used it on drugs, was captured on CCTV throwing a bumbag onto his room – it contained 56g of the drug – as police arrived.

During Johns’ sentencing in 2023, the District Court noted he had been “subject to a forceful arrest” and “lost 80 per cent vision” in his left eye because of it.

In May this year, Johns sued police for $500,000 claiming his arrest was needlessly “forceful” and that police used OC spray on his dog.

He also claimed he was struck after going to the ground despite having “surrendered” and “not attempt(ing) to resist any arrest”.

During a hearing in June, the court was told police had admitted they repeatedly struck Johns and deployed the spray.

In their defence papers, police maintained the arrest was neither unreasonable nor “unlawfully forceful” because Johns was resisting arrest “at all material times”.

On Tuesday, a hearing scheduled before District Court Master Mark Blumberg did not go ahead, and the case was administratively adjourned.

It will return to court in November to confirm the settlement has taken place as proposed.

Johns’ lawyer, Andrew Carpenter, declined to comment on the case when contacted by The Advertiser.