Elderly woman refuses to co-operate with internal probe into capsicum spray incident
A woman allegedly knocked down and capsicum-sprayed by police during a wild Melbourne protest has chosen not to co-operate with an internal probe.
Victoria
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A woman allegedly knocked down and capsicum sprayed by police during a wild Melbourne protest does not want to co-operate with an internal investigation.
There was widespread condemnation of the treatment of the woman, believed to be aged in her 70s, which was captured on video last month at Richmond.
But a Victoria Police spokesman said the woman did not want to assist the professional standards command inquiry.
The spokesman said the investigation would continue regardless.
Footage taken on September 18 appears to show the woman, on her back on the ground, being sprayed.
The incident led to online misinformation campaigns, including lies that the woman was a man aged in his 30s.
Bungling protesters posted the name and a photo of a police officer, saying he was responsible for the spraying, which led to trolls hitting him with an avalanche of menacing messages.
The officer named was on leave at the time.
Several other investigations are still running relating to police conduct during a week of fiery protests last month.
They include a photographer being capsicum-sprayed moments after the woman at Richmond was sprayed, and an officer’s treatment of a man slammed into the floor of Flinders St railway station several days later.
The policeman involved in that incident, who is from a specialist Victoria Police unit, has been suspended.
PROTESTER CHARGED OVER POLICE ASSAULT
A man has been charged over a brutal alleged assault on a police officer at the wild anti-lockdown rally in Richmond last month.
It’s alleged the male police officer was attempting to arrest a man who had assaulted a Protective Service Officer when he was kneed in the face by a 40-year-old Ringwood East man.
The officer sustained minor injuries.
The accused was on Tuesday charged with assaulting a police officer, intentionally obstructing a police officer, resisting arrest and other related charges.
He was bailed to appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on March 15.
In Victoria, people found guilty of assaulting emergency workers face a mandatory minimum six months imprisonment.
Hundreds of protesters saturated the streets of Richmond and Kew on September 18 in a show of defiance against lockdown restrictions.
The rally was initially planned to take place in the CBD, however was moved by organisers at the last minute after police made the unprecedented decision to shut down the public transport network and seal off the city to keep protesters out.
Multiple police were injured, including six who required hospital treatment following the chaos.
Shocking video footage showed some officers being pelted with rocks and bottles and trampled by a stampede of angry demonstrators.
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