dannybananny
Jedi Council Member
Shocking video footage of a 'cowardly' Australian police officer abusing detainees has been released.
Ben Price is first shown throwing a 21-year-old woman to the floor, then pulling her up by her hair.
The ex-Queensland police officer is then shown committing an horrific five-minute assault on a 23-year-old man.
Price can be seen punching and kneeing a bleeding, handcuffed Timothy Steele, 23, in May 25, 2008.
He puts Mr Steele in a brutal spine lock and leaves the commercial diver with a broken nose and two blackened eyes, cuts and bruising to the face.
Other police officers look on - but none intervene - as Price stuffs a running fire hose into his victim's mouth, nearly drowning him.
The first videos shows 34-year-old Price standing beside handcuffed barmaid Renee Toms in the police station before he pulls her restrained arms up high behind her, forcing her to lean forward in agony against a desk.
She is then hit in the neck and thrown to the ground - before being pulled up by her hair.
Two woman officers walk around Price while the assault is going on but do not intervene. No sound can be heard in the released video.
The second video shows Mr Steele, his nose already bleeding heavily, being dragged into the camera's vision in an alley beside the police station.
Clearly dazed, he is dropped to the floor where his torture begins.
Price is seen pushing his head forward into a painful position - known as a spine lock - before another officer hands the Senior Constable a hose, with water running from it.
It is then forced into Mr Steele's mouth and held there during a sickening 90-second ordeal.
Mr Steele slumps forward at the end of the torture, unmoving.
At Price's committal hearing in Proserpine Court, northern Queensland, last year, Mr Steele's emotional father yelled across the court to the policeman saying: 'You're a brave man, Price. I hope you get a fire hose jammed up your a**e in jail!'
Mr Steele, a plasterer from New South Wales, suffered a broken nose, black eyes, a head wound, hearing problems, memory loss and a lack of sensation in his arms and hands as a result of the torture.
He had been arrested while trying to break up a fight between two mates, when he was capsicum-sprayed by another officer.
Price then led the handcuffed Mr Steele to a police car, telling him to 'watch your head', before smashing his face into the vehicle, knocking him unconscious.
Price was then said to have dragged Mr Steel from the car outside the police station, repeatedly punched him and used his boot to kick him in the face, breaking his nose.
Although the video released today has no sound, when it was played to a court this week Mr Steele can be heard screaming and groaning in agony and blood can be seen running down the concrete path.
Price stands on the handcuffs behind Mr Steele's back while forcing his head into his lap in a brutal spine lock.
'I felt like I was going to drown,' Mr Steele told the court.
'He jammed the hose into my mouth. I couldn't breathe. I was coughing and spluttering blood. It was pretty scary. It went on for a long time.
'I called him a p***y. He knocked me about. I was pretty dazed. I'd had a boot to my face, my nose was broken. I was choking on my own blood. I felt like I was drowning.'
After releasing the videos, Acting Commissioner Ian Stewart said: 'There is no place for such conduct in the police force'. His words echoed the comment of Judge Stuart Durward who described Price's action as 'gratuitously violent, callous and contemptible.'
Price will be eligible for parole after nine months, in July next year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9elWt03ot6g&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319762/Police-release-CCTV-video-Australian-officer-Benjamin-Price-inflicting-water-torture-suspect.html#ixzz12GdTgTSc
Ben Price is first shown throwing a 21-year-old woman to the floor, then pulling her up by her hair.
The ex-Queensland police officer is then shown committing an horrific five-minute assault on a 23-year-old man.
Price can be seen punching and kneeing a bleeding, handcuffed Timothy Steele, 23, in May 25, 2008.
He puts Mr Steele in a brutal spine lock and leaves the commercial diver with a broken nose and two blackened eyes, cuts and bruising to the face.
Other police officers look on - but none intervene - as Price stuffs a running fire hose into his victim's mouth, nearly drowning him.
The first videos shows 34-year-old Price standing beside handcuffed barmaid Renee Toms in the police station before he pulls her restrained arms up high behind her, forcing her to lean forward in agony against a desk.
She is then hit in the neck and thrown to the ground - before being pulled up by her hair.
Two woman officers walk around Price while the assault is going on but do not intervene. No sound can be heard in the released video.
The second video shows Mr Steele, his nose already bleeding heavily, being dragged into the camera's vision in an alley beside the police station.
Clearly dazed, he is dropped to the floor where his torture begins.
Price is seen pushing his head forward into a painful position - known as a spine lock - before another officer hands the Senior Constable a hose, with water running from it.
It is then forced into Mr Steele's mouth and held there during a sickening 90-second ordeal.
Mr Steele slumps forward at the end of the torture, unmoving.
At Price's committal hearing in Proserpine Court, northern Queensland, last year, Mr Steele's emotional father yelled across the court to the policeman saying: 'You're a brave man, Price. I hope you get a fire hose jammed up your a**e in jail!'
Mr Steele, a plasterer from New South Wales, suffered a broken nose, black eyes, a head wound, hearing problems, memory loss and a lack of sensation in his arms and hands as a result of the torture.
He had been arrested while trying to break up a fight between two mates, when he was capsicum-sprayed by another officer.
Price then led the handcuffed Mr Steele to a police car, telling him to 'watch your head', before smashing his face into the vehicle, knocking him unconscious.
Price was then said to have dragged Mr Steel from the car outside the police station, repeatedly punched him and used his boot to kick him in the face, breaking his nose.
Although the video released today has no sound, when it was played to a court this week Mr Steele can be heard screaming and groaning in agony and blood can be seen running down the concrete path.
Price stands on the handcuffs behind Mr Steele's back while forcing his head into his lap in a brutal spine lock.
'I felt like I was going to drown,' Mr Steele told the court.
'He jammed the hose into my mouth. I couldn't breathe. I was coughing and spluttering blood. It was pretty scary. It went on for a long time.
'I called him a p***y. He knocked me about. I was pretty dazed. I'd had a boot to my face, my nose was broken. I was choking on my own blood. I felt like I was drowning.'
After releasing the videos, Acting Commissioner Ian Stewart said: 'There is no place for such conduct in the police force'. His words echoed the comment of Judge Stuart Durward who described Price's action as 'gratuitously violent, callous and contemptible.'
Price will be eligible for parole after nine months, in July next year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9elWt03ot6g&feature=player_embedded#!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1319762/Police-release-CCTV-video-Australian-officer-Benjamin-Price-inflicting-water-torture-suspect.html#ixzz12GdTgTSc
