Four Victoria Police officers have been suspended on full pay, and one assigned to 'alternative duties' over three separate incidents of violence which were captured on CCTV.
Assistant Commissioner Luke Cornelius, head of Professional Standards Command, has ordered the suspension of three officers over the first incident.
In the Melbourne suburb of Preston, a disabled pensioner known as ‘John’ can be seen being forced out of his home by the officers.
CCTV captured #police dragging a disability pensioner from his home, pinning him down and using capsicum spray on him. More tonight #abc730 pic.twitter.com/0oTWhEXxgZ — abc730 (@abc730) April 2, 2018
He is then sprayed in the face with capsicum spray, and pinned down on the ground by 6 officers, and one officer can be seen hitting the man repeatedly on the legs with a baton.
The incident was captured on the victims CCTV footage in October 2017.
In a second incident, which occurred at a chemist in the same suburb in 2016, one officer has been suspended after footage was captured on the store's CCTV camera.
A man had entered the chemist intending to rob the store, before police arrive.
The footage shows the man being repeatedly punched, hit with a baton, kicked, and stomped on by an officer.
A Sudanese man is punched by a Victoria Police officer. Source: Fairfax
A fifth officer has been assigned to ‘alternative duties’ over an incident that occurred in Bendigo in 2015.
23-year-old Indigenous man Jia Meeks was arrested for being ‘drunk and disorderly’. After refusing a photograph, Mr Meeks was thrown head first into a metal door by an officer.
Victoria Police say these are interim actions only whilst all three incidents are being investigated by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission (IBAC).
