Police officer could face criminal charges over 18 baton strikes against teen boy during Byron Bay arrest
A NORTH COAST police officer who struck a teenage boy with a baton 18 times during an arrest in a Byron Bay lane in January could face criminal charges after the full vision of the violent arrest was shown at the final public hearing today.
NSW
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A BYRON BAY police officer could face criminal charges over the violent arrest of a teen in Byron Bay in January.
Counsel assisting the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Terence Rowles described the police officer’s 18 baton strikes against the 16-year-old boy as an unjustifiable use of “grossly unnecessary force”.
The comments were made today at the final hearing into the violent arrest of the teen in the northern NSW town’s Lateen Lane, early on January 11.
The full version of footage shot on a mobile phone from a nearby balcony was screened at the hearing in Byron Community Centre today.
Mr Rowles said the teen, known only as AO, was drug-affected but “confused and disoriented”, rather than violent, during and after his arrest.
AO suffered a fractured rib and bruising, and Mr Rowles said while there were other possible causes of these injuries, it was “more probable than not” that the strike, or strikes, inflicted by Officer E caused this fracture, although “unintentionally”.
Police had responded to reports of a naked male acting inappropriately about 2.30am.
Moments after the first officers arrived, they deployed OC spray and Tasered the teen.
Byron youth worker Nicqui Yazdi welcomed Mr Rowles’ recommendations. She hoped to see a “better process” for the public to deal with similar incidents and the development of stronger mutual relationships between Byron’s police and young people.
“It’s very good to see that it’s been a transparent process,” Ms Yazdi said.”
Byron youth James Wright said the incident was “really close to home” and he hoped the investigation, along with the rollout of body-worn cameras in the region, would spark more understanding between police and young people.
Mr Wright said that relationship was currently “a bit fragmented” and called for more youth-centric training for police.
“I just really hope that” there’s a bit more training and a bit more understanding on how to approach young people because they do operate differently to adults,” he said.
The full version of footage shot on a mobile phone from a nearby balcony was screened at the hearing on Monday.
Officer E’s lawyer, Michael Taylor, said the measure of “reasonable use of force” was “not black and white”.
“There’s a very large grey area,” Mr Taylor said.
He argued Officer E’s actions fell inside that grey area.
The hearing heard Officer E’s actions may have been tempered by an incident involving a violent LSD-fuelled man who threw himself into a police car windscreen on Christmas Day last year.
But Mr Rowles said officer’s reported fears they could not feasibly restrain the 16-year-old in Lateen Lane without force were unfounded.
He recommended the NSW Police Commissioner discharge Officer E or find his actions constitute misconduct.
He also recommended the Director of Public Prosecutions bring criminal charges against the officer and said no further action should be taken against the other three officers at the scene and the Custody Manager who was on duty.
None of the officers or witnesses have been identified.