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'He's a child!' Police accused of 'heavy-handed' restraint of 12-year-old boy

A woman who recorded a boy being held down by four officers at a Victorian railway station has accused the police being heavy-handed with the child.

The 70-second clip filmed on her mobile phone shows the child doubled over on the ground of the Bendigo train station, as four male officers restrain him.

One of the cops hold him down can be heard saying: “That is ridiculous, you’re not going to hurt my members or me, OK?" while the boy wriggles on the ground.

The boy cries out, trying to communicate with the officers and at one point he says, “Let go of me” and tries to explain himself.

The officer tells him: "Shut up. You had your opportunity.”

The clip shows a child, believed to be 12, doubled over on the ground as four male officers restrain him. Picture: 3AW
The clip shows a child, believed to be 12, doubled over on the ground as four male officers restrain him. Picture: 3AW

A man and woman who recorded the incident appear to approach the officers and yell at them for being heavy handed.

"He's a child!" the woman shouts out. "Are you going to pepper spray him? Tazer him next?"

The man adds: "He's a kid, mate, come on."

One of the cops says the boy is autistic and doesn't understand, and explains he was running around on the roof at risk of danger to himself and others.

“I can’t let him kick people, and I can’t let him stand on top of the railway station, where he’s going to hurt himself,” the cop told her.

The woman tells the officer she had a child with autism and she wouldn't want police to handle them like the way they were retraining the boy.

A police spokesperson later told 7 News Online officers checked with the child's family and he does not in fact suffer from the developmental condition.

They confirmed police were called to the Bendigo Railway Station just before 7pm on Friday following a report of criminal damage to property.

"Members arrested a 12-year-old boy during which he resisted arrest and reasonable force was used to execute the arrest," a Victoria Police spokesperson told 7 News Online.

"No injuries were reported as a result of the arrest."

The boy's father collected the him from the station shortly after the incident, police said.

Police are expected to interview the boy at a later date.