The family of a 13-year-old girl who was forcibly restrained by an off-duty police officer in Perth say it has been left shaken amid claims the officer used excessive force in arresting her.
Warning: this article contains images and details of assault which some readers may find distressing.
Footage shared on social media, filmed on a Perth train on Sunday, April 12, shows a middle-aged man in plain clothes straddling the girl’s body while she is lying on the floor of the train carriage.Â
The girl screams and curses at him to get off her.
The police officer is seen using his knee to hold in place a girl lying down on the floor. (Supplied)
The man, who had identified himself as a police officer, then stands up and picks up the teenager, dropping her onto a row of empty seats and pinning her against the window with his leg.
“Sit up here. You’re under arrest,” he said.
“Hey! Her head!” her friend yells in the video, as the girl holds her head and winces, after knocking it against the hard exterior of the train window frame.
The girl appears to have knocked her head against the hard shell of the train window frame. (Supplied)
The officer holds her in place with his right knee for several minutes, restricting the girl from moving from the seat, as the girl shouts “I’m not resisting!”
The girl, who the ABC cannot identify for legal reasons, said she and her friends had been involved in an altercation with some boys on the train who had tried to rob them.
The girl explains to the ABC what happened on the train that day. (ABC News: Keane Bourke )
The off-duty officer intervened in that fracas, at which point the girl said she struck him in the face after he pushed her in the chest.
“It was a hard push, I tell you that because I wouldn’t have reacted the way I did if it wasn’t hard,” she told the ABC.
But the teenager said she was unaware of who the man was and quickly apologised as it was unintentional.
It was at that point that the man lunged at her, she said, and identified himself as a police officer.
The girl is pinned in her seat by the man’s leg. (Supplied)
“You just f***ing slammed my head into the f***ing thing!” the girl yelled on the video.
“Yep. Because I don’t want to get punched again,” the officer said.
“No-one’s gonna punch you! I retaliated in the wrong way! That’s it!” the girl said.
A bystander then intervened to speak with the officer directly.
The girl’s relative is angry over the police officer’s “violent” actions. (ABC News: Keane Bourke )
“Honestly, from where I was at, that felt like an unnecessary escalation,” the bystander said.
Growing increasingly upset by not being able to move, the 13-year-old girl lobbed repeated verbal threats at the officer.
“I’ll have my dad come down here and hurt you,” she said, crying.
‘I was shook’
The girl, who is a Noongar Yamatji teenager, told the ABC she was very upset by the incident.
“I had a panic attack during the whole thing,” she said.
This 13-year-old girl said she is still suffering physical and emotional pain from the assault. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“I couldn’t do anything to save myself. If I didn’t put my hand behind my head [when she was flung on the seat], I could have been dead.Â
“All I felt was racism. I felt hurt, I felt sad, I felt angry, I felt everything at once. I was shook during the whole thing.”
This 13-year-old said she felt she was subjected to racism. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The girl claims she has been to the doctor several times since the incident, and still has pain in her neck, back and arm.
The girl’s adult relative said she was angry to learn of what happened.
“I do have a lot of respect for the WA Police force because they’re first responders and they assist many of our women in domestic violence,” she said.
“But his actions were quite violent.”
The girl and her relative are grateful to the bystander who confronted the police officer. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
The pair said they were very appreciative of the assistance of the bystander.
“I have a lot of respect for [him], and I really wouldn’t know what I would have done without him if he wasn’t there,” the girl said.
Loading…’Matter under review’: police minister
The National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, Sue-Anne Hunter, said the video was “deeply disturbing and unsettling to watch.”
She condemned the use of “unreasonable force” and called for WA Police to “immediately” conduct an investigation.
“This is a representation of the violence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people can face every day.”
WA Police say they will open an internal investigation into the matter. (ABC News: Kema Johnson)
WA Police said it had launched an investigation into the officer’s conduct.
“The officer remains on operational duties while an internal investigation is undertaken,” a spokesperson said.
Police alleged the officer intervened in a verbal altercation between two groups of juveniles in an attempt to “de-escalate the situation” and said the officer himself received “minor injuries”.
They said the 13-year-old girl had been charged with common assault and issued a juvenile caution.
In a statement to the ABC, WA Police Minister Reece Whitby said the matter was under review.
Police Minister Reece Whitby says this matter is under review. (ABC News: Keane Bourke)
“We expect all WA Police officers to always act with professionalism and appropriate judgement,” he said.
“This matter is under review as is standard practice, including internal processes and CCTV, and it’s important those inquiries run their course.”
‘Recipe for disaster’
WA Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones said in her opinion, the officer used “excessive force”.
Jacqueline McGowan‑Jones says treating children with such force “is a recipe for disaster”. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)
“There were many ways he could restrain her that would not have involved the level of personal touch and force that we witnessed in the video,” Dr McGowan-Jones said.
“I cannot believe there was a circumstance where a physical assault by this 13-year-old child could not have been handled far more gently and respectfully by an adult.”
“These are children, they haven’t learnt behavioural and emotional control yet. Their brains aren’t developed.
Jacqueline McGowan-Jones watches the video on her phone. (ABC News: Keana Naughton)
“She’s really upset, she’s really distressed, she’s feeling overwhelmed — she is treated with total disrespect and unreasonable force.
“It’s a recipe for disaster.”