Corruption watchdog charges police officer over alleged pepper spray assault

A Victoria police officer has been charged by the state’s corruption watchdog with assaulting and falsely imprisoning a teenager, who is also suing the officer in the state’s Supreme Court.

Constable Mitchell Andrews was charged in July with false imprisonment and common law assault by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission, following an investigation known as Operation Yew.

The alleged victim, Jaimi Cook, who was 17 at the time of his interaction with Andrews, has filed a statement of claim with the Supreme Court and will pursue damages from the Victorian government.

Cook was one of six teenagers Andrews told to line up and provide their names, after security staff at Westfield Knox Shopping Centre asked police to remove the group from a playground in May 2024.

However, Cook refused to give his name. He said: “don’t f---ing touch me” when Andrews allegedly attempted to stop him from walking away, according to court documents.

The teenager alleges Andrews grabbed him by the right arm while another officer placed him in a headlock, before he was taken to the ground.

“The police officers continued to forcefully apply pressure to the plaintiff’s body as he wriggled in pain and told the police officers to let go of him. Officer Andrews then sprayed the plaintiff in the face with his police-issued oleoresin capsicum spray,” according to the statement of claim.

While pinned to the ground and placed in handcuffs, Cook insisted he had done nothing wrong, but eventually provided his name to officers and asked them to notify his mother.

A check of the LEAP database revealed Cook had no criminal history and no interactions with police, but a search of his bag found he was in possession of a small quantity of cannabis and magic mushrooms.

He was taken to Knox police station and later charged with two counts of possessing a drug of dependence and two counts of resisting an emergency worker on duty. But all charges were withdrawn at a hearing in a children’s court in February last year.

Cook, now 19, told The Age he had suffered from panic attacks and depression since the alleged assault.

“It’s basically just made me shut out from the world. I’m too scared to go outside, or even to the city, or any place where there could be a police presence,” he said.

Cook’s lawyer, Jeremy King from Robinson Gill Lawyers, alleges in court documents that police did not have a lawful basis to detain his client or reasonable grounds to arrest him, while the search of his backpack was also unlawful.

King, according to the statement of claim, will pursue general damages for the injuries and medical costs incurred by his client, but will also seek aggravated damages based on the alleged police misconduct.