Man shot on-air as Victoria Police suspend stomping

Melbourne talkback radio listeners heard the moment Victoria Police shot a man, as an officer from an elite unit was suspended over a stomping incident.

A man is flown to hospital on Tuesday with life-threatening injuries after police shot him at Lilydale, an incident heard live by Melbourne radio listeners. Picture: David Crosling

Melbourne talkback radio listeners heard the moment Victoria Police shot a man in the city’s far northeast, as an officer from an elite unit was suspended over a separate incident in which offic­ers struck a mentally ill man with a car before stomping on his head.

The state’s anti-corruption watchdog launched an investigation on Tuesday into the violent arrest of Timothy Atkins on Sunday outside the hospital where he was being treated for bipolar disorder.

Timothy Atkins with his wife.

The two incidents prompted Premier Daniel And­rews to deny Victoria Police had a cultural problem, after widespread community outrage.

A woman named Pauline called into 3AW about 9am on Tuesday to tell host Neil Mitchell that police officers had arrived at Lilydale Marketplace in Melbourne’s far northeast to confront a man walking around with “quite a large knife”.

“He’s not waving the knife or anything, he’s just wandering,” she said. “They’re yelling at him to put the knife down, but he doesn’t seem interested in that.”

Loud shots could then be heard as Pauline began to panic on-air. “Oh my god, here comes more police … oh shit, they’re shooting,” she said. “They’ve just shot … I can’t see if they shot him, but there’s just been three or four rounds.” The man was flown to hospit­al with life-threatening ­injuries to his upper body.

Victoria Police said officers were called to Hutchinson Street about 8.30am on Tuesday, and originally said a man was injured after a weapon was discharged, before reissuing its statement.

“Officers attempted to speak with the man, who refused to drop his weapon,” a spokesperson said. “Police discharged their firearms, shooting the man about 9.10am.”

The incident is under internal investigation, with oversight by the Victoria Police Professional Standards Command.

It comes after a senior constable­ from the elite Critical Incident Response Team was suspended early on Tuesday after video emerged of a Victoria Police car striking a mentally ill man with a car before pinning him to the ground and stomping on his head in the north Melbourne ­suburb of Epping.

Timothy Atkins, 32, is in an induced­ coma after the incident on Sunday, which occurred near the Northern Hospital, where he was being treated for bipolar disorder.

The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission announced an investigation into the incident on Sunday, with commissioner Robert Redlich QC saying the community was “rightfully concerned’’.

Mr Atkins’s father, Glenn, said he felt sick after viewing the footage of his son’s arrest, calling it an example of police brutality. “Timothy is a gentle giant, he has never been in trouble with the law,” he said on Monday. “I feel sick to my guts … I couldn’t sleep last night, I am full of anger and sadness.”