Cop threw me down, says teen
A police officer has been filmed apparently pushing a teenager off his bike and up against a fence.
The video clip shows a group of teenagers walking along the footpath in Mangere, South Auckland, with a couple of the group on bikes with large speakers when a marked police car pulls over.
Two officers get out, approach one of the teens on the bikes and one officer pushes him off, knocking the bike over. The officer then pushes the teen up against a chainmail fence while his friends ask whether the one holding the phone is recording. “It’s recording, it’s recording.”
Posted on Facebook on Saturday night, the 2.5-minute video has already been viewed more than 25,000 times, shared by 525 people and almost 800 have liked it.
One of the teens, Matthew Lamar, wrote on the post that a woman said she would ring the police so they ran down the street and hid.
A cop who caught up with him told him to “hurry home”.
Lamar said the officer came back as they all headed home and again said to go home.
The teen said he swore at the officer under his breath. The officer then “threw me down off the bike then picked me up and threw me against the fence and cuffed me”.
A police spokeswoman said they’d been made aware of the video and were looking into the matter. See the video at nzherald.co.nz