Police later said that the charge would be withdrawn and replaced with a standard charge for refusing to obey a move-on order.
But on Tuesday, all the charges against her were dropped. Outside court, Thomas said she was relieved the charges had been withdrawn but said it was “far from justice”.
Four of the five people arrested in June are still facing charges, and Thomas said police had not been “held to account for their behaviour”.
“The punch I sustained was just one example police brutality that morning, the actions of every cop at that protest should be reviewed [and] criminal and disciplinary consequences should follow,” she said.
“It took the police two days to charge me, but 73 days later, the male police officer who punched me in the head with enough force to rip open my right eyeball has not been charged, and to the best of my knowledge, he remains in uniform prowling the streets of western Sydney.
“If he was willing to punch me in the face in front of so many witnesses and with people filming, I shudder to think what he is doing when no one’s watching.”
The decision will prompt Thomas, who stood for the Greens against Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in the inner west seat of Grayndler at the federal election, to commence civil action against the NSW Police over the arrest.
O’Brien, her lawyer, said outside court that he planned to formally launch civil action in the NSW Supreme Court later on Tuesday.
“Its a very, very serious injury, and compensation will be sought,” he said.
He is also pursuing costs against the NSW Police, which he said were “considerable”.
The charges against Thomas “should never have been laid”, he said, and “once they were laid, they should have been withdrawn a lot sooner than they were”.
Senior police initially said there was no wrongdoing by officers during her arrest, and documents provided to the courts by police blamed “interference” from other protesters for her injury.
In the days after the incident, Assistant Commissioner Brett McFadden told the ABC he had conducted a “preliminary review” of body-worn footage from the arrest along with other senior officers and was not investigating the potential for excessive use of force by officers.
At the time, he said there was “no information at this stage before me that indicates any misconduct on behalf of any of my officers”, he said at the time.
However, her case was referred to the NSW Police internal affairs unit after this masthead revealed both lawyers and police sources who had reviewed body-worn footage from the protest said it showed she was punched.
In July, the NSW Police issued a statement confirming the referral, saying it was probing “questions of excessive force” by officers.
“We expect the police officer, a police officer, will be charged. Others should certainly be disciplined,” he said.
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