Car park belting a ‘clanger’
A GOLD Coast police officer concedes it was a “clanger” of a day when he was caught on CCTV footage kneeing and punching a handcuffed man.
Senior Constable Ben Lamb gave evidence about his actions in the January 2012 arrest of Noa Begic at the trial of a former sergeant on misconduct charges.
Rick Flori, 47, is standing trial at the Southport District Court after allegedly leaking footage of Sen Const Lamb bashing Mr Begic in the Surfers Paradise station car park.
Sen Const Lamb told the court yesterday he made “incorrect choices” in his actions.
“I have now accepted that was totally excessive and I should have used a restraint technique,” he said. “This is a clanger of a day for me.”
The court heard Sen Const Lamb was disciplined and given a suspended dismissal.
He denied his actions were gratuitous or a reflection of a culture of brutality within the Surfers Paradise station.
“Nonsense, absolute nonsense,” he said. “I made a mistake, but that’s not what happened.”
Defence barrister Saul Holt QC listed seven unsubstantiated complaints made against Sen Const Lamb since he joined the police in 2009. He denied any knowledge of any of the other allegations against him.
“Most of them are nonsense,” he said. “This one, I put my hands up.”
Earlier, an officer who arrested Mr Begic and brought him to the station before the bashing, denied exaggerating how violent and aggressive he’d been.
“Everything that happened was because of his actions,” Sen Const Trent Osborne said.
Inspector Matthew Rosevear, the officer in charge of the Surfers Paradise station in 2012, said former Senior Sergeant David Joachim, who was involved in Mr Begic’s arrest, had not revealed his level of involvement when informing him of the incident the morning after.
Insp Rosevear told the court if he had known of Mr Joachim’s involvement he would have immediately reviewed the footage.
When he did watch it, he admitted it raised concerns about a potential excessive force issue.
The trial will resume today.