NSW police officer used unreasonable force by throwing torch at Aboriginal teenager, report finds
A New South Wales police officer engaged in serious misconduct and unreasonable use of force when he injured an Aboriginal teenager by throwing a torch at his head, an independent body has found.
The officer’s failure to switch on his body-worn camera as well as not reporting the incident on 21 November 2020 was serious misconduct, according to a Law Enforcement Conduct Commission report delivered on Thursday.
The report recommended considering dismissing the Hunter region officer or seriously disciplining him.
On the night of the incident police earlier dispersed a gathering at Lake Macquarie’s Charlestown Skate Park which the 16-year-old boy attended.
The boy said he felt “threatened and fearful” after being approached by police while waiting at a bus stop with his girlfriend at around 2am.
At the time, police believed the boy may have been involved in a robbery, which proved to be incorrect.
He told the inquiry the officer said to him, “come here, cunt. Come here, cunt.”
“He was like aggressive ... and then he started running for me, so I turned around and started running, and like two seconds after I just felt a big, like, bang, right in the back of my head,” the boy said.
According to the officer he did not intend to hit the boy in the head with the torch, who at the time he estimated was around seven to 10 metres away from him.
The boy was left with a small laceration to the back of his head which did not require medical attention.
The officer, who at the time of the incident had been a member of the police for over 10 years and was a senior constable, spoke to the inquiry on the condition his evidence could not be used in any criminal prosecution.
He said the decision to throw the torch was made to slow the boy down and was intended to “take his legs out”, not hit him in the head.
“I’ve started chasing him. He was getting too far away for me to catch him. At that time, I did have a small Pelican torch in my hand,” the officer told the inquiry.
“So I took it as an opportunity. I’ve utilised that torch with the mindset that I will try and take his legs out to stop him from running and to effect the arrest.
“I’ve thrown it. However, that didn’t go to plan. Inadvertently, it has hit him in the back of the head.”
The boy was later arrested and handcuffed on the ground outside a nearby McDonald’s which was filmed by his girlfriend and viewed by the inquiry.
Both were placed in the back of a police vehicle before being released after less than 30 minutes.
Chief Commissioner Peter Johnson SC said having body-worn video of such incidents was critical.
“This investigation illustrates the need for body-worn video cameras to be activated when police interact with a citizen,” Johnson said.