Police brutality in the spotlight again as footage emerges of officer bashing a robber

Image: The Age

Police brutality is in the spotlight again.

Following yesterday’s revelation of half a dozen police brutalising a mentally ill man, The Age journalist Nick McKenzie has obtained more footage of police aggression.

The footage, from 2016, follows a robbery at a Preston chemist.

The robber, a tall African-Australian man, is punched and kicked after two officers have subdued him and handcuffed his arms behind his back.

One officer kicks him in the head, stomps on his back, and hits him with a baton.

Ahmed Hassan, a youth worker and member of Victoria Police’s African-Australian task force, said young African-Australians feel targeted by police.

“This gives us a bit of evidence to what young people are relating to,” he said.

Mr Hassan said police should be allowed to use whatever force is necessary, but the actions depicted in this latest video go too far.

“Police have every right to arrest this young man, but police should not be using excessive force.”

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Police internal affairs unit, known as Professional Standards Command, did not deem it serious enough to sanction.

“If police start meting out their own punishment, that becomes really problematic,” the man’s lawyer said.