Police will ‘review’ an incident in which a naked teenager was tasered, capsicum sprayed and struck by officers after allegedly assaulting them in Byron Bay last month.
Video footage aired by A Current Affair on Tuesday showed police striking the disturbed, 16-year-old boy with batons outside a hostel on Lateen St Byron Bay on January 11.
The youth can be heard screaming for help in the footage as four officers appear to strike him with batons while pinning him to the ground.
In a statement, NSW Police said officers from the Tweed-Byron Local Area command had been called to the lane by residents at around 2.30am and arrived to find the youth lying naked in street.
Police said the teenager allegedly became aggressive, necessitating the use of capsicum spray.
The youth then allegedly attempted to assault the officers and was tasered, police said.
He was eventually arrested and taken to Byron Police Station where he was assessed by paramedics.
The statement said that the incident was now the subject of a review.
NSW Police declined to respond when asked by The Echo who would be conducting the review.
However, a NSW Police spokesman said it would be ‘independently oversight’ by the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission – an independent police watchdog set up last year.
However, NSW Upper House Greens MP David Shoebridge has called for a more ‘transparent’ review of the case.
Mr Shoebridge told ABC radio this morning that such reviews of apparent police misconduct needed to be conducted in full public view.
The incident has brought an angry reaction from some sections of the local community, including Byron Shire Mayor Simon Richardson who described it in a media interview as ‘an outrageous misuse of excessive force’.
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