An investigation by the Brisbane Indigenous Media Association has revealed details of the extraordinary police assault of a 29-year-old Aboriginal man. Amy McQuire, who led that investigation hosts an expert panel exploring the circumstances of this incident in the wider context of the discriminatory policing of Indigenous people in Australia. It is well worth a watch.
In October 2013, Brisbane Indigenous Media Association worker and Gumbaynggirr man Leon Petrou was tasered, capsicum sprayed and bashed by Queensland police officers, in a case all too common to many Aboriginal people across the country.
Despite the extent of his injuries, illustrated in shocking pictures taken a week after, he was charged with seven counts of assaulting and obstructing police. It’s a common practice known as ‘stacking the charge sheet’.
Leon was acquitted of all charges last year, but the impact of this encounter has been far-reaching.
Watch Leon’s story in Let’s Talk: Police Brutality, a video panel released this month.
Host Amy McQuire delves into the issues around police brutality with former Queensland police officer and First Nations man Matt Bond, former Crime and Corruption Commission Indigenous Complaints Officer Trudie Broderick and Leon himself.
Picture: Leon Petrou, pictured shortly after being assaulted during an arrest by Queensland Police in 2013.
A detailed article by Amy McQuire, Black And Blue: Leon Petrou And Police Brutality At Its Finest, was published in New Matilda.
