NSW Police deployed 12 officers to arrest one (1) Black man in Bondi last night, which seems incredibly excessive and tactless given the force’s history with violence against Black men.
Just before 5:30pm yesterday, NSW Police said they were called to an outdoor gym at Bondi Beach after reports of a man harassing gym-goers. Eastern Suburbs Police officers visited the site and were told that the man allegedly threatened a 33-year-old man with a glass bottle.
They then approached and spoke to the man before he allegedly “kicked and headbutted” a male officer. That officer suffered minor injuries and was taken to hospital for precautionary scans, and was released today.
However, sharing footage with PEDESTRIAN.TV, a witness said the man did not appear to resist arrest. They claim he was “docile and defenceless” during the arrest, even when a total of 12 police officers surrounded him.
You have to ask yourself here, why did NSW Police feel the need to deploy a dozen officers to arrest a single man? It not only sounds excessive on paper, but looking at the footage, the sheer overwhelming volume of officers makes what came next even more disturbing.
In the first clip, four officers can be seen pinning the man flat down on the ground while another four crowd around him closely.
At some point, before the second footage was filmed, the man gets off the ground, before he is handcuffed and surrounded by a total of 12 officers.
Then, four of them appear to be holding him by the arms and back and pushing him towards the police van while the others trail behind.
At this point, the witnesses can be heard noting that the man appears to be cooperating. Literally seconds later, six officers shove the man into the paddy wagon.
“Just leave him alone,” a witness said from inside the building.
“He can’t get in because you’ve cuffed his hands.”
Just last Tuesday, a First Nations man was shot and killed after a “physical confrontation” with NSW police in Seven Hills. Officers and paramedics reportedly performed CPR on the 46-year-old man but he could not be revived. The police watchdog is planning to independently review an investigation into that incident.
While an independent review is being conducted by the police watchdog regarding the Seven Hills shooting, the fact an Indigenous man was shot by police just days before this makes this show of police force even harder to watch.
Yesterday we learnt again that “ looking” for someone with an outstanding warrant, ultimately means police consent to look and shoot.
Yesterday Russel was shot down by police due to an outstanding warrant.
His life matters.
Black Lives Matter.— Nessa Turnbull-Roberts (@TurnbullVanessa) November 10, 2021
I mean, after allegedly executing a Black man days earlier, you’d think NSW Police would want to lay low and protect their reputation, or at least, be a bit more conscious of how incidents like this look, especially in light of the historic police violence against Black men in this country.
“It’s important for Aussies to be reminded of the frequency of police brutality, it’s happening everywhere around us,” the witness behind the video told us.
“There is a toxic violent megalomaniacal culture in the police force and that we need to campaign to defund the police.”
It’s important to note here that the charges of the man arrested are irrelevant here. NSW Police deployed an unnecessarily excessive amount of officers to arrest one Black man. Which I doubt would be used if the suspect was white.
According to an NSW Police spokesperson, the man was charged with assaulting an officer in the execution of duty, armed with intent to commit an indictable offence, and resisting or hindering a police officer in the execution of duty. He appeared at Parramatta Bail Court today and was refused bail to appear at Central Local Court tomorrow.
