Victim Of Mardi Gras Police Force Gives His Side Of The Story

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Published

March 6, 2013

Sadly, the international headline-making incident whereby a New South Wales police officer was filmed forcefully handling gay teenager, Jamie Jackson, has become the major story of an otherwise celebratory and incident-free 2013 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. Since the upsetting footage went viral prompting a surge of criticism about the seemingly unnecessary heavy-handedness used to subdue Jackson, Sydney police have launched an internal investigation; and last night the 18-year-old Mardi Gras-goer appeared on A Current Affair to give his side of the story.

According to Jackson, after he “tickled” a girl in the crowd (presumably a stranger) he was approached by police who accused him of assaulting her. Jackson says “yes, I shouldn’t have approached someone I didn’t know, but in saying that I don’t know how it even got to this point.”

Jackson says he was thrown to the ground two times (the first time was not captured on video) and when he protested, police refused to explain exactly why he was being arrested. This – the refusal by the police to tell Jackson what he had done wrong – as well as the audible request from another officer ordering Jackson’s friend to stop recording the footage – are the most troubling elements of this incident from what I have seen so far. Without having been witness to what happened, the fact the police attempted to control and prevent the recording of the incident – doesn’t it seem to suggest they did not want such footage to be viewed and distributed?

Watch the interview below.

There is no Australian law preventing the public from filming the police. Crikey published an article on this topic in 2011, including information from the NSW Police who said “Police do not have the power to prevent anyone from photographing or filming them and cannot confiscate camera equipment or delete images and recordings.”

The article continues:

A few – the AFP, the WA Police and the Queenslanders – noted that if filming obstructs police, they may ask for it to be stopped. NSW noted other possible exceptions, “including under anti-terrorism legislation and if the filming or photographing constitutes an offence such as offensive conduct”. Queensland Police, however, opened a door to police seizing phones: “There are occasions when photographs or video taken during a police action may form evidence in an investigation, and officers will take steps to secure that evidence if necessary.”

It will be interesting to see if and how the footage is used as evidence in the case moving forward, and, in a world where personal camera-phones are increasingly used to record criminal acts and reveal the identity of perpetrators, if new policies or legislation will be put in place for how such footage can be used.

UPDATE: Pedestrian commenters turned our attention to this footage that alleges to contain the original incident (it is yet to be verified by Jackson or police). The Youtube user posted the video with the title “ORIGINAL MARDI GRA INCIDENT, SHOWS GUY HITTING COPS FIRST!” Take a look at the footage and weigh in.