Former Gold Coast police officer Rick Flori ‘not guilty’ of misconduct
SUPPORTERS of former policeman turned whistleblower Rick Flori have openly wept in court as a jury declared him not guilty of misconduct. It comes as the jury deliberated for eight hours before coming to a majority verdict.
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SUPPORTERS of former policeman turned whistleblower Rick Flori have openly wept as a jury declared him not guilty of misconduct.
It took more than eight hours for the jury to reach a majority verdict of 11 to one.
“Yes,” one supporter yelled, after the verdict was read out.
Another declared “justice”.
Mr Flori had been accused of leaking a tape of four officers allegedly beating Noa Begic in the Surfers Paradise Police station car park in January 2012.
It showed a handcuffed young chef, Noa Begic, being repeatedly punched and kneed by one officer.
A senior officer is then shown washing Begic’s blood away with a bucket of water.
It was alleged he leaked the tape for personal gain.
EARLIER: THE jury in the misconduct trial against former police officer Rick Flori is deadlock.
Judge David Kent issued a black direction asking the jurors to carefully reconsider the evidence.
The jury has retired once more to consider their verdict.
They have been deliberating for about seven hours in total.
Flori has pleaded in the Southport District Court not guilty to one count of misconduct for releasing footage of “police brutality” in the Surfers Paradise carpark in January 2012.
The footage shows four officers struggling with Noa Begic during which Senior Constable Benjamin Lamb knees and punches Mr Begic.
The district duty officer Senior Sergeant David Joachim is seen in the footage throwing a bucket of water on blood in the carpark floor.
The jury must decide if Flori leaked the footage in order to cause detriment to Mr Joachim
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