The NSW police officer who was seen allegedly slamming an Indigenous teen to the ground in graphic iPhone footage has officially been charged with assault.
Back in June 2020, disturbing footage was released of uniformed NSW Police officers in an altercation with a 16-year-old teen in a Surry Hills park. In the video, one officer can be seen kicking the teen to the ground.
The family of the teenager have officially moved forward with pressing charges against the NSW Police officer, roughly eleven months after the alleged assault took place.
The officer, who has reportedly been working with NSW Police for three years now, has been charged with assault occasioning bodily harm and common assault.
A spokesperson for the teenage boy and his family has revealed in a statement that they are “happy with the way this is now proceeding, legally and fairly”.
“We as a family cry and share the grief and pain of the families who have had the lives of their young Black sons and daughters taken away from them violently by police and custodial authorities,” the statement read.
“Aboriginal people across Australia have been unfairly treated, racially vilified, and systematically oppressed since 1788.
“We look forward to the law being applied with fairness and justice.”
Greens MP David Shoebridge shared the news of the police officer being charged to his Facebook on Tuesday, saying that it is about time the justice system takes First Nations peoples seriously.
“This [alleged] assault was caught on film, which is a big part of why this family is a step closer to justice than so many others,” Shoebridge wrote.
“The Black Lives Matter movement is the other part. Now it is up to the courts to decide the matter.
“Together we are forcing the justice system to take police violence against First Nations communities seriously.”
Not long after the alleged assault, Police Commissioner Mick Fuller went on the record in saying that the officer who has now been charged, was probably just “having a bad day.”
The officer is to appear before Downing Centre local court on June 24, 2021, which will be more than a year after the alleged assault.
