Family call for constable to be charged over Aboriginal boy's arrest
The family of a teenage boy who was felled by a police officer kicking his legs out from underneath him then pinning him to the ground this week have called for the constable to be charged and for the end of "police investigating police".
Video appears to shows three officers interacting with several teenagers on Monday, with one male constable appearing to tell one of the boys he needs to "open up his ears".
The boy seems to respond: "What? I heard you from over here, I don't need to open up my ears. I'll crack you in the f--king jaw, bro."
The male constable appears to proceed to grab the boy's hands behind his back, and kick his legs out from underneath him before handcuffing him.
"I cannot explain the anger and frustration that we are feeling at this time," the boy's sister told reporters on Wednesday.
The boy's family have called for the constable to be charged. Failing that, they will launch private legal action, lawyer George Newhouse said on Wednesday.
The teen's family also called for an "end to police investigating police" after the force announced that the internal Professional Standards Command would launch an investigation into the arrest.
The family also want to know what will happen to the other two officers involved, his sister said.
After taking a knee in honour of George Floyd, whose death in Minnesota at the hands of a white police officer sparked protests across the United States this week, his father said the footage "angered" him and reminded him of incidents in his own past as an Aboriginal teenager.
Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Wednesday said that was "concerned" about the officer's conduct.
"Not for one minute am I sitting here saying the officer's actions were correct. The focus is on whether the force was excessive or not," he told 2GB, adding the officer involved had a "clean record" and "of the complaints are sustained against him, you would have to say that he's had a bad day".
The response from the officer was "not unprovoked", NSW Police Minister David Elliott said on Wednesday morning.
"The important message here is Sydney is not Minnesota. The situation we had two days ago in Sydney was not unprovoked, the response from the police was not unprovoked," he said."Even though we have had deaths in custody and we have had a very rocky past in our race relations, I think we need to be reminded that that occurred in the United States."
More than 400 Indigenous people have died in custody since the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody.