Aboriginal teen sues after alleged NSW police assault caught on video

An Aboriginal teenager is suing the state of NSW, alleging that he was assaulted by police in an incident caught on video, which appears to show an officer striking the boy in the head as he was walking home at night in Casino last year.

A statement of claim filed in the Lismore district court described the alleged incident as "abhorrent and racist" and an "oppressive abuse of police powers".

The teenager, who has asked not to be identified, is seeking damages for alleged assault, battery, false imprisonment and trespass to property.

The allegations come amidst a separate investigation into the conduct of a NSW police officer who was filmed kicking the feet out from under an Indigenous teenager during an arrest in Sydney earlier this month, putting police conduct under renewed scrutiny as Black Lives Matter protests sweep the globe.

The Bundjalung teenager, then 17, claims he was walking home at around 12.30am last September in the Northern Rivers town of Casino when he was approached by three police officers.

The recording that emerged shortly after the incident shows police following him for about half a block and then surrounding him and questioning the teenager, who can be heard repeatedly saying "I'm going home."

One officer, who the boy's lawyers allege in the statement of claim to be Senior Constable Benjamin David Chivers, appears to shove the boy in the chest as he attempts to walk away.

Another officer puts their hand on the boy's arm and the boy appears to push his hand away.

The first officer then strikes the boy in the head, knocking his hat off.

After police are alerted that the incident is being filmed, the first officer begins asking the boy, "Why'd you have a swing at him?", gesturing to his fellow officer.

The boy replies he didn't "take a swing".

The statement of claim alleges: "Police officers targeted an Aboriginal boy, for no reason whatsoever, and then proceeded to degrade and humiliate him in the most cynical way."

It accuses the officers of acting "in stark indifference" to their duties as guardians.

"The conduct complained of demonstrates a failure by the Richmond Local Area Command to properly train, discipline and educate its police officers to prevent them from racially vilifying young Aboriginal males in the Casino area," the statement says.

The boy's solicitor, Joe Fahey from Foott Law, claimed that when the teenager and his relative went to the Casino police station to make a complaint that night, police locked the doors and refused to let them in.

"To our knowledge no police officers have been charged over the incident," he said.

Mr Fahey said he had lodged almost 30 successful claims for wrongful arrest or assault of Indigenous people in the northern NSW region in the past four to five years.

Lawyers for the state referred questions to NSW police. A police media spokesperson declined to comment while the matter is before the court.

Minister for Police and Emergency Services David Elliott did not respond to questions regarding police conduct in northern NSW, but said the NSW Police Academy had last year trained its highest number of Indigenous recruits.

"The NSW Police Force employs Aboriginal Community Officers in Police Area Commands with higher populations of Indigenous Australians to liaise, develop and maintain open communication with the Indigenous community," he said.

The case is scheduled for a pre-trial conference in Lismore district court next week.