Four officers suspended by Victoria Police over alleged excessive force
Victoria Police has suspended four officers after video showed the alleged use of excessive force on two occasions in Melbourne.
A fifth officer has been reassigned to alternative duties over an incident in Bendigo in March, 2015.
The decision was made by Victoria Police Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, who is the head of the Professional Standards command.
Police said the measures were “interim actions” while the Independent Broad-based Anti-Corruption Commission (IBAC) investigates the matters.
In one incident, in October 2017, a number of Victoria Police officers dragged a disability pensioner into his front yard, where he was pinned to the ground.
Police had been called to conduct a welfare check and the incident was recorded on CCTV.
Three officers have been suspended over that incident.
Video from another incident showed an officer stomping on the back of a handcuffed African-Australian man, who had assaulted several people before trying to hold up a Melbourne pharmacy with a pair of scissors in 2016.
One officer has been suspended over that incident.
The third incident took place at a Bendigo police station in 2015, when a security camera recorded an officer hurling a handcuffed prisoner into a metal door.
An officer has been “assigned to alternative duties”, a Victoria Police statement said.
More to come.