Disturbing moment female police officer's head hits pavement during 'serious assault'
The officer had been attempting to apprehend a man when the situation quickly turned violent.
A female police officer whose head was allegedly repeatedly smashed on the road during "a serious assault" early on Wednesday morning has been treated in hospital for facial wounds and two men have been charged with several offences.
The alleged attack occurred just after dawn on Greenacre Drive in Parkwood on the Gold Coast, after police had attempted to arrest two occupants of a black Lexus at 5.30am, that had been reported as "suspicious".
Dramatic footage uploaded to social media shows the female officer trying to remove one of the men from the car, when she is met with resistance. The other man in the car had reportedly fled on foot with an officer giving chase.
After the man allegedly refuses to exit the vehicle, the officer then pulls him from the car and tasers him, in a bid to get him to comply. A struggle ensues and the man — wearing a hoodie, sneakers and shorts — collapses to the ground.
Gold Coast arrest goes wrong
The footage then shows the officer attempt to place him under arrest, while they both rumble on the road. Eventually, the man manages to overpower the officer, while stunned onlookers watch on from a nearby property and film from their phones.
“Get down! I’ll taser you again!” the officer yells at the man during the ordeal. A woman filming the incident is then heard saying "she's lost control".
Dramatic footage uploaded to social media
The man manages to flee on foot momentarily before he was arrested. In a statement to media, Queensland Police said the female officer had been treated for a head injury and facial abrasions.
“Police have taken two men into custody after a female officer was injured during an arrest at Parkwood this morning,” they said. “Around 5.35am police were called by a member of the public after they saw a damaged black Lexus vehicle parked on Greenacre Drive with two men asleep inside.
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“Officers approached the vehicle with the driver becoming violent towards police resulting in a female officer being assaulted and sustaining an injury to her head. A male passenger immediately fled the vehicle and was apprehended a short distance away by police.
“A search of the vehicle located a firearm, ammunition and items used in property offences. The female officer has been taken to hospital for treatment to a head injury and abrasions. Police investigations are ongoing.”
Police have charged two men, aged 40 and 36, in relation to multiple offences relating to Wednesday's incident. During an earlier incident, it will also be alleged the 40-year-old man stole a grey BMW from a business on Ferry Road in Southport just before midday on Tuesday.
A 40-year-old Carina man has since been charged with 15 offences, including four counts of unlawful use of a motor vehicle, three counts of going armed to cause fear, one count of serious assault police officer causing grievous bodily harm, unlawful possession of weapons (Category H) in public.
A 36-year-old man, of no fixed address, has been charged with five offences including serious assault of a police officer, unlawful possession of weapons (Category H) in public and unlawful use of a motor vehicle. Both men are expected to appear before Southport Magistrates Court on December 14.
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Gold Coast Acting Superintendent Scott Knowles addressed reporters earlier on Wednesday and described the incident as an example of "the danger police officers face when they turn out to a routine job”.
He said the female police officer was seriously assaulted by the man she confronted, saying he allegedly banged her head against the road surface before being able to get up and flee.
“Fortunately at that point in time other additional police resources have arrived and both offenders have been taken into custody,"Knowles said.
“Thankfully [the officers’] injuries aren’t too serious," he said. "The female officer has suffered a number of cuts, abrasions and contusions to her head. She’ll be sore for a few days but is expected to recover without any significant issues.
“The search of the vehicle that these offenders were located in located a loaded revolver, and our policewoman indicated that our offender, as she was trying to remove him from the vehicle, was actually trying to reach for that bag that contained that firearm, so very lucky for our officers and they did a fantastic job in successfully apprehending these offenders."
Formal charges are expected to be laid against the two men later today.
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