Arrest turmoil

AN INTERNAL police investigation is underway into the arrest of a man in Wonthaggi that left the man and police with injuries.
Police have been accused by a witness in other media reports of using excessive force during the arrest of the man, who became aggressive after an epileptic seizure.
The Star has been told the man was placed in an induced coma at Wonthaggi Hospital due to a medical condition before being airlifted to St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne.
The police unit responsible for investigating police, the Professional Standards Command, is now overseeing an investigation into how police conducted the arrest.
The Star has been told the Wonthaggi man experienced a seizure in Graham Street, Wonthaggi at 3.25pm on Monday, August 6 and became aggressive towards a motorist and punched the vehicle’s window.
He was then reportedly aggressive towards police who attempted to subdue him with capsicum spray, which did little to calm him. More police became involved and police eventually brought the man to the ground. He sustained a head injury during the arrest and the hands of police were bitten during the ordeal.
The man was taken to Wonthaggi Hospital by ambulance and later flown to St Vincent’s. He was discharged on Tuesday, August 7.
The Star has been told the man is known to police.
Police Media issued this statement, “Police in Wonthaggi were called to a collision between a car and pedestrian on August 6 in Graham Street. On arrival they found a male acting aggressively, pounding on the car windscreen.
“Police attempted to subdue the male and capsicum spray was deployed. The male was later conveyed to Wonthaggi Hospital. Professional Standards Command will oversee the investigation.”
Bass Coast Shire Council deputy mayor Cr Brett Tessari became involved after initially thinking someone had been hit by a car. He described the incident as “tragic”.
“I ran to see if he needed help, and there were four or five other people around as well,” he said.
“As it turned out, the man was having an epileptic seizure. I dialled triple zero.
“His mother was there and said her son could become quite aggressive when he came out of these episodes. When he came to, he was agitated and disoriented. He got to his feet and became quite angry. He started punching cars, yelling and walking up the street.
“The problem was it was pick up time from the schools. There were a lot of school children around walking home and some of them did become quite distressed.
“The police arrived and had to detain him. They wrestled him to the ground, but I didn’t see anymore. That’s as far as I followed the incident because I went back to work. I didn’t find out until later that he was severely injured.
“It was an unfortunate situation and I don’t know if there was any other way the police could’ve handled it; I wasn’t there to see.”

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Posted by Tayla Kershaw on Aug 14 2018. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry